Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague and congratulate him on his re-election. I believe this is his third or fourth term, and I congratulate him.
The member raised the fact that there were some people in the House, some young mothers, who had their babies with them. All my respect to my colleague from Fort McMurray—Cold Lake who has been elected for the first time to the House of Commons. We are very pleased to welcome her. She has a great baby, and I wish her the best in the time to come.
As for the substance of what the member said, I thought it was interesting when he said that they expected everyone to be in the House. That is the problem.
The House shut down in June, before the Prime Minister decided, out of his own personal vanity, to call an election. This means we lost between 63 and 65 days of parliamentary work. Had it not been for the election that cost $110 million for a cabinet shuffle, we would have been able to sit as early as September. However, because of the Prime Minister's decision, which cost taxpayers $100 million, that did not happen.
He said that they expected to see all members on site. The problem is that from January to June, this government did not show up here in the House, and that is quite dishonourable. Perhaps things could have been different, but they demonstrated, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they have contempt for parliamentary work, and this has shaken our confidence in terms of what we can expect going forward.