Mr. Speaker, I believe democracy is a fundamental component of Canada. Democracy, to my mind, means as elected representatives we come to this House and we vote and we make those choices because we have the responsibility as elected representatives.
I was as shocked and appalled as anyone else in this House when Bill C-43 originally came up in this House. Elected representatives, people who were elected to do a job from across this country, including at that time 99 Conservative members of Parliament, refused to do their job. They did not show up to work. They sat at those desks and refused to vote.
Now they may have said that Bill C-43 was a good budget, and I certainly would have disagreed with them, but they had the right to stand and vote and exercise the democratic mandate that they were given by their constituents or they could have joined with us and said no to those corporate tax cuts and voted against. They did neither. They sat in silence in this room and refused to exercise the democratic mandate accorded to them by their constituents. It is shocking and appalling. It is unprecedented that elected representatives, receiving a generous salary and all the generous benefits from Canadians, would refuse to stand and vote, would refuse to exercise the mandate given to them by their constituents.
I come from British Columbia. We have a proud democratic tradition. Yet the majority of British Columbia MPs refused to vote on Bill C-43. That should be a source of shame to every member of the Conservative Party that is left. I know some of them have already left, or whatever, but those who are left in this House should be ashamed of themselves for not having exercised that democratic mandate that was accorded to them by their constituents. I am sure if any one of them had said during the election campaign, “Elect me and I won't show up to work”, I do not think they would be sitting in this House now.