Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his very good question. I would like to answer it with a focus on the Prime Minister's alleged reputation as a strategic genius.
I think all members of the House would agree that that reputation took a huge hit last November with his ill-fated November statement. I think that yesterday too, with the super-aggressive behaviour, it took another hit.
I would not ask colleagues to believe me, necessarily. I will just read a very brief comment by Strategic Counsel pollster Peter Donolo in The Globe and Mail today. He says:
I don't think you should be threatening an election when you're dropping in the polls. It's difficult for a combative politician to always mind his Ps and Qs...[but] sometimes they can't help themselves.
That is an independent pollster on our brilliant tactician, our Prime Minister. That is a good message for the government.