Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member of the situation with the member for Saskatoon--Humboldt. What is the difference?
I am delighted he brought up the issue of closure motions because it gives me a chance to talk for a while about how the Conservative Party has really performed a disservice in the House by wasting time earlier in this session. Closure motions are used when the opposition puts up endless speakers with irrelevant information and repeating the same type of speeches.
A perfect example of that was when a number of motions that were on the Order Paper from the last session were brought forward for debate and opposition members filibustered for days and wasted the time of the House. Thank goodness there is a provision for closure because the opposition can be stopped from wasting taxpayers' money in such debate. If this issue comes up in the next question asked of me, I have some other examples that I can provide.
In relation to the member's comment on the democratic deficit, he was perfectly right to point out the tremendous change in the House because of the Prime Minister's new initiatives. I can think of three items, the first being free votes. Another initiative was more freedom in parliamentary committees and that has already occurred. All committees chairs have received correspondence on that and it is moving forward. The third initiative was in regard to appointments.
I appreciate the fact that the member is in the House a lot more than many other members and I give him credit for that. What is surprising is his total lack of understanding of how the system has changed. In the previous system, Liberal members voted the same way on many bills because we did not have the three line system. It is a totally different system now.
I voted against the government a number of times under this new system and the whole atmosphere of the House has changed because of it. This is really an historical step in the evolution of the House. This Prime Minister should be given a great deal of credit for bringing it forward and implementing it.