Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy debating with that member but I have to take issue with his comment about the democratic deficit that the new Prime Minister is putting forward and has been putting forward since the very speech he mentioned. It has been mentioned so many times in the press and in the House that I cannot believe the member is so out of touch as to not understand.
One of the items coming is the three line vote, which will change the vote of thousands of MPs in the future and their ability to vote; the one and two line vote to go to committee before second reading so that parliamentarians have a chance to have input on the whole nature of the bill, not just inconsequential amendments; to increase resources to committees where a lot of members of Parliament have always said there is tremendous work done; to have a national security committee where MPs can be informed and involved; to improve the scrutiny and/or reporting of departmental estimates--I cannot believe the member is against that or has not heard about it--or take recommendations from committees on which governor in council appointments could be subject to review by Parliament.
The national press has said these are the most far reaching changes in decades. I would be embarrassed to be so out of touch and so unaware of these changes as the member seems to be. I am giving him a chance because I cannot believe he would be against all these things. I know many of his colleagues are in favour of some of these. I would ask the member to stand and say that he is totally against all these things that would improve Parliament.