Mr. Speaker, I would like to give the House leader of the official opposition the opportunity when he rises again to perhaps correct the statement by the member for Central Nova, who indicated that the leader of their party had disclosed his contributions. My understanding is that the contributions to his leadership race in 2002, when he was heading up the national tax coalition, have not been put forward and have not been made available to Canadians. I am sure that in the spirit of openness and democracy he would want to do that. Perhaps he would be able to correct this.
The member mentioned all the measures that were supported. One that the opposition did not support, of course, was a tax measure which involved reducing taxes for the vast majority of Canadians, especially low and middle income earners, the people who need it the most.
He also mentioned in his speech the percentage of bills brought forward by the opposition and which government members found favour with, indicating that it was around 12%. I have never done the calculation, but I am certainly hopeful that in the next Parliament they bring better bills forward so we could support a larger majority of them.
The motion that has been put forward is a motion of non-confidence, but those members could have voted non-confidence on many measures put forward by the government. They did not. They supported them, with the NDP putting off their confidence motion.
Would the member not admit that his leader may be afraid of the serpent in the orchard that might crawl out and get him? Maybe he is afraid of being smitten by the lord of New Brunswick and being challenged for his position and finds it better to go to the polls now rather than waiting until a later date.