Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was just going to say that what we're dealing with here are just a number of different variables. You have to decide and you have to prioritize them. We're trying to take into account the pressures that you face, the very real pressures as an MP in representing people, and the differences between rural and urban regions, and then the difference between representing Brampton West and Davenport—which I think has perhaps even half the population of Brampton West.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You make an excellent point and I'm sympathetic to MPs who have to represent that many more constituents. One way it can be addressed, I think, without adding more MPs is, perhaps, providing for greater administrative support, more money so you could hire more people. That would help you discharge the responsibilities of MPs who have more constituents.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I've heard the NDP speak on Quebec. Actually, Quebec has lost seats in the past. I'm not as sympathetic. I believe the people of Quebec accept the principle of proportionality. They accepted it in the Constitution Act of 1867, which hadn't been the case before that, when we had a double veto principle in the old Province of Canada.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, I prefer fewer seats in the House of Commons. I got anxious about it once it hit about 295. Obviously, therefore, I would prefer 308 seats to 338 seats. I don't appreciate all the technicalities in the bill, but I don't understand, quite frankly, the projections that the current bill would accommodate population growth for decades to come.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. I think you'd have one seat each for each of the territories. I heard Labrador mentioned. I should point out that we have split up constituencies where we have islands and mainland. I'm thinking of Elizabeth May's constituency, which includes the Gulf Islands and a large part of Vancouver, the Saanich Peninsula.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that's doable. I think you can even drill it down further, as they have in the United States. I just think that in the Canadian tradition, there's been more of a focus in the jurisprudence on community interest, the historical traditions. There's more of a group focus in our constitutional tradition than there is in the United States, which is focused solely on the individual.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. I think for most of Canada's history, the boundaries were often set by the government, so we had gerrymandering. I think we're really quite advanced because we now have these independent electoral boundaries commissions and the legislation has been dramatically improved. I think this has been a great advance.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay, let me make a political comment. I'm a resident of Ontario. In the 1990s, the Government of Ontario introduced a bill called the Fewer Politicians Act. Many of the senior cabinet ministers in that government are now senior cabinet ministers in the federal cabinet. I notice that this bill is called the Fair Representation Act.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I haven't consulted with the governments, but I am a Manitoban. I grew up in Manitoba, and I was there when the seats were reduced and it wasn't an issue, because I sensed, as I think other Manitobans did, that the important point wasn't how many seats you had, but the proportionality.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for inviting me, and I apologize for my lack of facility in French. I've read the debate at second reading on November 2. I'm thankful to Michelle, the clerk, for connecting me with the audiocast of your hearings of last week, to which I listened; and I also found very helpful a research piece by the Library of Parliament, prepared last year in April, on Bill C-12, the forerunner to this act.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I am skeptical about this. A number of you were in the House in 2005 when you tried to bring down the Martin government. You all insisted this was a confidence matter, and they said no, it was attached to a committee's report and therefore was a procedural motion. The people who decide whether it's confidence or not on these bills are the government.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You're raising the question of how much... As Professor Cyr says, we have a minimalist Constitution, in terms of what's written. Compared with the British, it's maximalist, and the reason we had to write a Constitution, even though we said we wanted one similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom, is that we agreed to have a federal state.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You only lost 22 days on this most recent one. I saw that point made by Mr. Lukiwski in the May 3 issue of The Hill Times. The point is this. What happened to your committees? Why was the House prorogued?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, it's not time limited. Russell made a very good point that it's not going to count if one person, especially the Prime Minister, has the confidence and exempts himself from it. But if you can get all of the party leaders to agree this is how things will work after an election or before a prorogation, it's then understood.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't agree because of what's happened. I want to avoid the crises we've had.