Mr. Speaker, while my hon. colleague from Calgary has already commented on the hon. member's confusion of volume with logic, I would like to turn this to a question of tone. I must say I am disappointed in the tone that permeated the entire speech of my colleague, at a time when his leader is apparently sending a message to Canadians that he wants a spirit of collegiality and co-operation where the opposition is respected. The member spent the entire time attacking both other parties in the House. I am a little disappointed in that.
The member raised questions of consistency in policy and honesty and transparency. I could talk about the confusing history of the relationship of deficits and the Liberals. In the 1990s, there was austerity imposed by the Paul Martin government, and the Liberals did not run deficits at all. I saw the Liberals criticize Conservatives year after year during the last Parliament for running deficits. Yet, apparently deficits are exactly what this country needs to stimulate our economy.
I could talk about trade, where the Liberals campaigned against NAFTA in the 1980s. They said that they would repeal it when they got into government, and did not. Now, of course, they claim that their position on trade has always been in favour of trade agreements.
Regarding infrastructure, one would think that the problem of infrastructure in this country began in 2006. Frankly, the infrastructure deficit in this country began decades ago, as the crumbling roads, bridges, and schools of this country were allowed to happen under Liberal governments as well.
However, my question is about proportionality. The NDP is not prescriptive about the need for electoral reform in a vacuum; it is because Canadians want this chamber to be proportional. They have seen false majority after false majority. When we say that Canadians want a proportional system in this House, where if the Green Party gets 4% of the vote they get 4% of the seats, etc., then that is what they want in this chamber.
I am going to ask this to the member directly. Does he or does he not agree with the principle of proportionality in this Parliament, so that Canadians' votes actually count?