Mr. Speaker, the very first thing that comes to my mind as someone who has sat in previous Parliaments with the hon. member is to turn around the question and ask him this. Why did the Conservative government make profound foundational changes to our Elections Act that affected the enfranchisement of people, changed the qualifications of people to vote, changed whether or not there be educational systems of our young people in schools, took away public financing of voting, and made profound changes to our electoral system without putting those questions to the vote of the Canadian people?
The Conservative government did not see fit to consult a single Canadian about those changes to the Elections Act or obtain the consent of any other party in the House. When the Conservatives wanted to make changes that they thought were important in the electoral system, there was no consultation required. It is a little rich listening to the Conservative Party talk about consultation after being in a government that probably was the least consultative of any government in the 20th century.
Briefly speaking, I believe the member is right in the sense that we must get broad consensus among Canadians and political parties about changes to our system. If that is done through this chamber, through multi-party support, that is fine. If it is not done that way, I certainly think that consulting Canadians through a referendum is indeed a possibility that our party has not foreclosed.