Mr. Speaker, indeed, public consultation is key to democracy. The message the government is sending by not holding consultations is that once elected, it no longer has to listen to a word Canadians have to say or to what experts think even though they know a lot more than we do.
Let us call a spade a spade. There are people in our country with a tremendous amount of expertise, and we are lucky to have them. The least we can do is listen to them when they have something to say, when they ask to be heard. They can contribute ideas about things we have not yet thought of or read about. They are ahead of the curve. They know precisely what the consequences of this will be in 10 or 50 years. They know where we will end up with this and the impact of including such and such a clause in a free trade agreement.
When the government does not consult or listen to experts, it is putting Canadian democracy in jeopardy. I can understand why Canadians are concerned.