Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend across the way has been around long enough to know that it would be foolhardy to speculate on hearsay. Three people said to him something they heard that came out of the Prime Minister's Office. I am not even going to speculate on that.
The Prime Minister was the only national leader in the last election campaign, before that campaign, and now, who is standing and saying this must be a free vote.
I know enough about the Prime Minister, and I hope my hon. friend would also know, that he would not make a comment like that and in fact stake out an electoral position, which some would suggest may not have been electorally positive, but one that is based on principle, in the hopes that in fact it would fail. I think that is a foolhardy notion and I think I have addressed that.