Senate Reform Act  Mr. Speaker, the problem with the New Democrats is they have an issue of consistency and an issue with regard to hypocrisy. At the end of the day, the New Democrats, because they believe they can capture more votes by slamming the Senate, says who cares about the real value of th

Senate Reform Act  Mr. Speaker, the member was quite right when he said that jobs and the economy are what are important to Canadians today. There is no doubt about that. The bill before us tries to provide a bit of hope in terms of democratic reform but in reality that is not the case. I was li

Senate Reform Act  Mr. Speaker, I have a fairly straightforward question. If a majority of Canadians wanted to see the Senate retained, but changed so that there would be more value to it, what would the position of the New Democratic Party then be? Would it still oppose and want to abolish it, ev

Senate Reform Act  Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity to tour the province of Manitoba on a Senate reform committee. It was a committee that was dominated by the New Democratic Party and what we heard time and again was that there is great potential value to a reformed Senate, that we do not h

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, I would be inclined to disagree with the government representative. As has been cited by my colleague from the New Democratic Party, the House does have a role to play when a committee is behaving in the manner in which it is currently behaving

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, the government representative stood up and indicated that he, too, has contributed to the Conservative Party. What he is really doing is trying to minimize the severity of what actually took place after question period. Although I do not know him personally, there i

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. I find it highly irregular. I appreciate that the government spares no cost in terms of tax dollars in researching the background of individuals. It was a legitimate question in regard to the actions of the government. The amount of

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the passion and sense of commitment that the member opposite brings to what he believes is an important issue and that, no doubt, Canadians as a whole would recognize as an important issue. We have this beautiful memorial in the form of a wall mural in W

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, in reality, the leaders and the riding associations, and the cliques that are out there throughout our many different communities have a lot more to do with that than the actual number of seats. If we want to get new Canadians or people who are immigrating to our co

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, I am not one to back down from a good healthy debate. I would suggest to the member that we contact Richard Cloutier of CJOB and debate it on his radio program. I will make myself available and hopefully, the member will make himself available. We will advance this s

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, my concern in terms of dealing with 308 seats is that we need to focus our attention on the ability of the province of Quebec to have the clout that it currently has. The percentage of clout that it has today under the bill is actually going down. I would not necessa

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, I have no idea where the minister pulls those numbers from, saying, “under the Liberal plan”. Maybe he could share that Liberal plan with the Liberal MPs. I have not seen the plan he is referring to and I am the one who is speaking on it. We are talking about the 308

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, I believe that the Liberal Party of Canada is very keen on ideas and engaging Canadians on ways in which we can make a difference. On a personal note, I am very sensitive to that issue. There are many examples that could be cited from all provinces where we have act

Fair Representation Act  Fair share, yes; increasing the actual numbers, no. Therein lies a substantial difference between the Conservatives and the Liberals. As I pointed out, there is a difference in all three political parties. I have been listening to the speeches given by New Democrats, trying to

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that I have been afforded the opportunity, because of the generosity of my caucus colleagues, to make representation on this very important bill. Last weekend, I had the opportunity of exchanging thoughts and ideas with constituents. On at least two or