Mr. Speaker, the government is peddling a fictional narrative that it consulted the Conservative Party on its amendment to the NDP motion for a special committee on electoral reform. Here are the facts.
The day the motion was debated, I did not learn that an amendment was in the works until moments before debate started. Even then, I was never shown a copy. As for advance consultation, the day prior, the minister sent a note on a torn sheet of paper saying she wanted to chat. In a conversation that certainly did not last five minutes, she asked what I thought of the NDP motion without ever indicating that she was planning to seek amendments. So far was I from being a part of the subsequent negotiations that I reacted to the minister's peculiar little visit by going to the NDP critic's office to warn him that the Liberals were up to something. I was right; I just did not guess what.
If the Liberals wants to pass off this kind of sandbagging as consultation, is it any wonder that Conservatives are adamant that the final consultation on any new voting system must take the form of a national referendum?