Mr. Speaker, “It is a firm constitutional convention that prime ministers must either resign or call an election if they lose the confidence of the House”. So says professor and constitutional expert Andrew Heard. A constitutional matter is a basic matter of the rule of law.
That, in all its simplicity, is what we are debating in this House. That is the basis for our democracy. By ignoring a confidence motion of this House, the government is flouting the rule of law. It is ignoring the basic principles of representative and responsible government, and is expressing contempt for the electoral choices of the people of Canada. It has decided that power is more important than principle and that might is more important than right. The government has lost the constitutional right to govern and in choosing to ignore that loss, it has also forfeited the moral right to govern.
It is a truism that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Nothing is more corrupt than ignoring the rule of the law and the voice of the people. The government is illegitimate and must resign.