Mr. Speaker, it has been a while since I have done this. I actually asked the very first question under these rules when they changed back when Jean Chrétien was the prime minister. I was so proud of myself, but I have since forgotten what was said. However, I only have a minute and I will not use it up.
There were 39% of Canadians who voted for the Liberals in this election. That is not a mandate to move forward unilaterally. That was 39% under a system that the Liberals themselves say gives false mandates: 100% of the power with 39% of the vote.
It is obvious that most people who voted for the Liberal Party did not vote because of this particular plank in the platform. I would add, as well, that while it is true that the Green Party and the NDP support electoral reform and do not want the status quo, some of us in the Conservative Party are not necessarily choosing first past the post as our preferred system either.
However, the point is this. New Democrats and people who voted NDP do not necessarily support the system that the Liberals have come up with. They do not necessarily support the system the Liberals have come up with because there was no specific commitment to a kind of system, merely to not having the current system. It is obvious that is a fundamental flaw in the logic we have been presented with.
If the Liberals would switch and say they want to have a referendum, they would discover that they have a considerable amount of goodwill from the Canadian public. I think they might discover that once again they are riding the wave of popular support that ought to attach itself naturally to change.