Mr. Speaker, I have heard some complaints from my side of the House about the repetition in the speeches across the way. I must say that I have learned a lot from my Conservative colleagues tonight. I learned that their view of history suggests that their party has always existed. In fact, the group assembled represents a set of parties that we have governed with over 11 and a half years.
We have had the Reform Party, the Progressive Conservative Party, the Alliance Party and now the new Conservative Party. We have faced leaders espousing those theories that those parties put forward. We have had Mr. Manning, the hon. member for Okanagan--Coquihalla, Mr. Charest, Mr. Clark, the hon. member for Central Nova and now the hon. member for Calgary Southwest.
We have faced four parties who have put forward the same theories. They have had six leaders as their spokespersons and yet once again last June Canadians chose not to make it the party that would lead Canada, but again chose the Liberals. I think that this reclarification of history is necessary.
However, I have learned a lot. For example, I have learned that the only example of Conservative high finance that I have heard from that side tonight revolved around the economics of a garage sale. I have learned that the example of Conservative reading material that was quoted from was not Shakespeare or the Bible or any of those books. It was the Salmon Arm News .
Perhaps Canadians are having difficulty connecting with people whose idea of finance is a garage sale and whose idea of literature is the Salmon Arm News . I would also caution one of their members to not take swipes at sailors, even if some of them are drunk because it will not increase his party's success in Atlantic Canada.
The last speaker is a new member. It seems to me that he does not understand minority government. That is the type of government chosen by Canadians in the last election, a government in which no party has a majority. Traditionally, a minority government has a duty to lay out a plan in its Speech from the Throne, to lay out a budget, and to look for support from another party in order to have it passed.