Madam Speaker, there are times in the House that the hypocrisy of the Liberals is stifling. It is hard to believe.
The deputy House leader, the member for Winnipeg North, in debate about the Fair Elections Act when time allocation was called on February 6, called using time allocation an “assault on democracy”. He then suggested that the Conservatives were going to send it to hours at PROC. Does this not sound familiar? That member, the person now pushing the bill through the chamber, called bringing time allocation on elections legislation “disgraceful”. These are their words.
I feel for the minister having to stand up and justify the terrible double standard and hypocrisy of the Liberal government. I would also invite her to get to know Elections Canada reports, because the Neufeld report that formed the basis of the Fair Elections Act said that 42% of vouching incidents were false votes or irregularities—42%. In Elections Canada's own report on election participation by vulnerable groups that do not vote enough, vouching has nothing to do with it, so once again the Liberals are bringing in something that Elections Canada has said is unreliable.
In this day and age, it is reasonable to ask someone to show their identification to show that they are of voting age and that they live in the riding. Why the lack of common sense?