Madam Speaker, this is an important debate to have as we approach Remembrance Week and Remembrance Day.
The discussion about Bill C-3 is a discussion about the value of Canadian citizenship: what that means, why it is valued, why it has lasting value, and the freedoms that Canadians enjoy and that Canadian citizenship affords. Whether it is freedom of speech, of religion, of mobility or of voting for and shaping government, these are important freedoms.
In shaping government and in voting, Canadians have clear expectations of what happens in our parliamentary democracy. They send representatives to the House, 343 of us in the most recent election, and there is a well-established process we follow here.
When a bill is introduced by the government, it requires approval at various stages. One of the most important functions is not the sound bites we hear on the news in the evening, see on social media or hear on the radio from question period, but the work that members do in committee, which is incredibly valuable.
The composition of committees represents the composition of the House. While there are members who are elected under the party banners of multiple parties that sit in the House, the parties do not have equal standing. That is how one party gets to form the government, by having the confidence of the House and most often having the most seats. The official opposition is second to that, and then there are additional opposition parties. There is a minimum standard for what constitutes party status. The composition of our committees reflects the composition of the chamber.
When a bill, for example Bill C-3, goes to committee, it undergoes scrutiny. We hear testimony from expert witnesses, and we have debates. Really good work can happen at committee. One of the most important roles of members of the House is their service on standing committees.
The Liberal government's wanting in this case to ignore the work of committee, the amendments to its legislation that get passed at committee, the improvements that get made, seeks to concentrate power in the executive, in the very few. I think if we asked most Canadians, they would want the majority of the work of the majority of members at committee to be reflected in the legislation, and not simply have the Prime Minister, by edict, ram things through the House.
The effect of looking to override and undermine the work of committee is that it erodes public trust, something that has fallen to all-time lows in recent years. I would say, what is more, that it undermines good governance and presupposes that the executive, cabinet, in presenting legislation, had all the answers and that the view of members at committee, their witnesses and the committee debates are not important or relevant.
How did we get to where we can have our parliamentary democracy? What did we do to earn it? It was bought and paid for with blood and sweat.
Thousands of people died, and we stand on their shoulders today, on the shoulders of the more than 118,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders who died in the defence and the promotion of democracy, in conflicts since before our country was Canada. It started with the Fenian raids, the defence of Canada against U.S.-based militants. I can only imagine that with less than three minutes left in my speech, members would not think I would be starting in 1866.
It was consistent through the world wars and through the Korean War, the Congo wars, Cyprus, other UN engagements, and Afghanistan most recently, where 159 Canadian men and women, in the lifetime of all of us, died with the Canadian flag on their shoulder, along with seven Canadian civilians. I will note that in Afghanistan, the Brockville Rifles, my local regiment in Brockville, was awarded battle honours for that, in the defence and the promotion of the rights and values we have here at home.
That is what I am reflecting on this week, as well as my service as a regular member of Canada's army. I know there are other members on both sides of the House who served in uniform, and I thank them for their service. I know what it takes of an individual, and I know what it takes of the family. People do not have to have been deployed to have sacrificed. People do not have to have put on the uniform to know, recognize and appreciate that sacrifice.
That is what I want members to reflect on as they take decisions as we go forward in Parliament: what is in the best interests of Canada; what protects the value of our citizenship, of our passport; and what promotes that democracy, our parliamentary democracy, and respects the vote of the people who participated, who exercised their franchise as a Canadian in the last election. We are here to represent everyone, and it is an incredible honour. It is a privilege. However, it is a big responsibility; I reflect on that too.
While we make a decision as a House on what to do next with Bill C-3, I would just ask members to consider our parliamentary democracy, our traditions, how we came to be here, the defence and the protection of those freedoms, and of course why the process that was undertaken at committee is so important.