Madam Speaker, the member for Oak Ridges—Markham certainly follows the adage that the best defence is a good offence. When we listen to the government, people would think we were the ones who prorogued the House.
The brain trust in the Conservative government decided that this was perhaps a good idea, to prorogue the House and set the stage for a potential election, following the great results it expected from the Olympics. The government did this when it was 10 points ahead in the polls. It did not anticipate that this would be a total political disaster, that it would end up losing its 10% and would be in the mess it is in right now.
Now the Conservatives are very sensitive about that issue. I think they are trying to deflect the whole issue to other issues. They are trying to say that provinces prorogue houses. Provinces do but they do it in consultation with the opposition.