Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak about principle because we on this side of the House do believe in principle. Our most important principle is doing what we said we would do, and that is what we have been doing since we were elected on clear priorities. We spelled them out and we have delivered on them.
My friend asked: why confidence votes? It is about accountability, a concept perhaps foreign to the other side where those members are all about power. In our view it is very simple. We tell Canadians what we are going to do. We stand behind what we say, and then we deliver on it. The mandate we received from Canadians counts for something. If the member disagrees with that mandate, if he wishes to present another vision, he is free to do that.
Our tackling violent crime agenda is something core. We spoke to Canadians about it and they supported it. The Liberal Party said it supported it, but when it comes to practice the behaviour of those members is entirely different than their words. Those bills were held up without being passed for a total of 1,456 days, and yet those members said this was an agenda they could support. Those were the delays; that was the obstruction.
That is why we have bundled our agenda into one bill, a confidence bill, a bill where Canadians will finally get the agenda they want, a bill that tackles violent crime that will make their communities safer. We hope that for once the actions of the Liberals will match their words and that they will support this bill.