Madam Speaker, it is a real honour to rise today and participate in this debate. I have been listening since the beginning, and one of the reflections I have is about how open this debate has been in terms of people expressing their own opinions. It is quite refreshing to have been part of this and to hear what people genuinely think.
People are only really going to participate in this debate if they like procedure and like talking about how the House works. It is very clear that people's discussions today are coming from their own perspectives and their own ideas. In the same way, I will be sharing my opinions based on what I have observed over the last five years, or almost six years now, I guess.
I remember the very first time we had this debate after I was first elected. I took quite an interest in what was being discussed, because it is a unique opportunity to reflect on the way we operate and how we can improve it. I know the legislation enabling this debate to occur is fairly new, at least within the last few decades, and it is a vitally important part of the democratic function of this House. I doubt that a lot of the suggestions coming from here have ever really made headway, but at least we have the place to have this discussion.
A number of people have spoken in favour of electronic voting. I will not get into the details of that and rehash what other people have said, but I want to voice my support for the position that it is time for this House to adopt a form of electronic voting. We would not have to worry about people being able to see people standing in their place, and every vote would be a recorded vote and be put in Hansard. I am not even saying it has to be done in the way we are going to test this evening with remote voting, but just to have the voting capacity at our own individual desks would be good.
What I really want to talk about today is the quality of the debate in this House, and I want to talk about two parts of what goes on in here. I know I talked about this the last time, but it is something I am passionate about, and it actually involves the Speaker's role in this House. The two parts I want to talk about when I address the quality of debate are question period and the normal debate periods, such as the one we are having right now.
There is a problem with the fact that over the last few decades, we have arrived at a point where the Speaker holds a list, whether it is during question period or the regular time for debate. I am sure these changes were made with good intentions, but some consequences have come of them. What has been created is a scenario in which we do not really participate in a debate in terms of listening to what other people say, challenging their ideas and putting forward our own ideas. Instead, we come in here and stand for 10 minutes, give a speech, whether it is written in advance or off the cuff, answer some questions and then leave.
Part of the problem is that the Speaker has a list and is going through the list of who is going to be called and at what time. In this scenario, if I know I want to speak to a certain bill, I then ask my whip's desk to put me on the list. I get on the list and then I am told that I am speaking at approximately 20 after 10, although it depends on whether we get bumped around by votes and stuff. This gives me the ability to say to myself that I am going to be speaking at 20 after 10, so I will be in the House just shortly after 10 o'clock, and I know I can take a meeting back in my office later on at 11 o'clock because that will give me enough of a buffer. I can kind of plan my day around that. The problem there is that I am not participating in a debate; I am just giving a speech and then answering some questions afterward.
Let us say I was forced to come here to sit and listen, and every time the Speaker said “resuming debate”, I would get out of my chair to try to catch his or her eye. I am sure there are ways for the Speaker to ensure fairness in the distribution of turns. However, if I were forced to do that, I would be forced to listen to what other people had to say. Debating is probably more about listening than about what one has to say. Since the 1990s, or whenever the Speaker started to develop these lists, they have been detrimental to the quality of the debate in the House.
I will also bring the following, as it relates to question period. What I have found so refreshing about today's discussion is that it has not been so partisan, and I say this with regard to both sides of the aisle. Quite often the opposition will say that the Liberals are not answering questions, that we are reading pre-programmed answers. I am not going to deny that. I think it has happened when both Conservatives and Liberals have been in power.
I also think that when there is a script for who is going to ask a question, the opposition, in this case who ask the majority of the questions, are also going to become very scripted. For example, the member for Carleton usually asks two or three questions in a row. He will set up his first question. He kind of knows the answer that he is going to get and tees it up for the next one, and then he gets to hit the home run, if he is successful, with the last question he asks. It has become very scripted because he knows he will have three questions at a specific time and that he will be following on the back of another member who had questions that set him up, as well.
In one sense, it is arguable that answers are not being really given to the questions being asked. It is also easy to criticize the questions being asked and the manner in which they are being asked. I genuinely think that if it were a member's role to get the eye of the Speaker and the Speaker said that a certain member had not asked a question in a while and went to that person, without their knowing they would be getting the next question, it would make them know their material so that when they do get up, they are ready. It would eliminate the habit of our writing a question in advance and practising it 20 or 30 times to get the perfect clip. It would also prevent ministers from being prepared because the questions would not be the same every single day in the exact same order. It would really free up the place we have come to where everything is scripted and happening in a certain order. It would improve discourse in this place.
We can think about what is most important here. I know there have been a ton of good topics that have come up today, and people have contributed and talked about different ways they think this place could function better. I agree with almost all of them. There are always some details that need to be fine-tuned and for us to really look into things, but it is an opportunity to improve the quality of what goes on here.
The heart of what we do here is debating. It is bringing forward ideas from around the country, from the people we represent, the mandate we think they have given to us to bring here and to represent them here. At the same time, it is not just about coming here and yelling out one's position. It is about listening to the positions of other people from around the country. Having that opportunity to hear what other people have to say and to listen to it, by kind of being forced to listen to it, is so incredibly important.
I have really enjoyed the discussion today. I enjoyed listening to all members in the House and those who have been contributing virtually to the discussion. It has been very rewarding to hear their personal opinions on this, and not their partisan takes on it.