Mr. Speaker, what the Minister of State for Democratic Reform said is bunch of nonsense. It is unbelievable. He is talking about a gimmick, but the only gimmick here is the Conservatives' Senate reform plan.
The Conservatives are proposing elections and term limits. Senators would be elected one time. They would be able to serve nine years and would not be accountable to the public during their mandate. For nine years, they could do whatever they want without ever being accountable to the public. That is nonsense.
His government is not doing anything about Senate reform. How can he justify keeping an institution that undermines democracy every single day? I am referring to how the Senate has rejected bills that originated in the House, such as the climate change bill the NDP introduced a few years ago. This bill had the support of all opposition parties in the House, but it was defeated in the Senate. I am also referring to the bill from my colleague from Acadie—Bathurst requiring Supreme Court judges to be bilingual. His bill was defeated in the Senate.
How can the government justify keeping an obsolete institution that violates the rights of parliamentarians and prevents them from properly serving the people they represent?