He said: Mr. Speaker, I am sure you enjoyed that reading.
Before I start talking about the motion, I would like to point out that none of the ideas in the motion are mine. Not only that, I did not write most of the motion. Therefore, people cannot get mad at me for its being so long to read. It was actually the work of many members of this House of Commons, and I would like to thank them.
I will start with the Conservative member for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, who collaborated on this along with his assistant, Dennis Laurie. I would also like to thank the Conservative member for Wellington—Halton Hills, the NDP member for Elmwood—Transcona and the NDP member for Victoria, who also collaborated with me on parts of this motion. The Green Party member for Saanich—Gulf Islands also contributed, as well as the Liberal member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame and the Liberal member for Laurentides—Labelle.
All of these people, and many more, helped put this together. It was a project done by many people in the House, and I would like to thank them. In addition, I really have to thank the procedural clerk, Ms. Isabelle Dumas, who probably saw far more of me than she wanted to as we were working on this.
Fundamentally, this motion is trying to do one thing.
I would take members back to ancient Greece, the foundation of democracy, and Pericles' Funeral Oration. Normally, a funeral oration was given at the end of a year of war to recognize the dead, but in his oration, Pericles did something unique. He asked what they died for, what they fought for, and he talked about their way of government: democracy. He said, “[W]e are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few.”
That was 2,450 years ago, and to this day, the battle of democracies versus autocracies exists. In fact, scholars tell us that right now we are in what is called the third wave of autocratization, as opposed democratization. All over the world, democratic principles and institutions are being attacked, and this could be through lack of a free media, lack of fair and open elections, a leader of a great nation declaring himself leader for life, fake elections, or a leader attacking democratic institutions.
Canada has not been immune to this. Over the last 30 years, we have seen a centralization of power more and more towards the centre: less and less for the many, and more and more for the few.
This motion seeks to address that by doing three things. It seeks to take power and give it back: one, to the Speaker; two, to members of Parliament; and three, to our citizens. I believe that, in so doing, we will get a better and stronger democracy.
What will they do?
Mr. Speaker, you have the title “Speaker”, because it is your role to decide who speaks. However, over the last 25 years in Canada, there has been a perversion of the Westminster system, which does not exist anywhere else, where you are no longer the Speaker, and I mean no disrespect, but you are now the reader of a list, and that is not how our democracy was meant to be. I sincerely believe that if you had your full powers, Mr. Speaker, we would have far more civility in the House of Commons and far better debate.
Two, as a member of Parliament, I am here to represent my constituents, and I need more freedom to do that. I need the freedom that existed here in Canada and elsewhere before it became centralized. We need to put it back in the hands of the many. In doing so, I would be able to present this motion. I am doing it at the last minute because I was lucky, or unlucky, depending on how we look at it, to have my motion come up at this time. However, if we make the changes in this motion, every member of Parliament can expect to have a private member's bill during his or her time here.
As well, committees would have a leader chosen by the House. The job of a committee is to take bills from the government, review them and report back to the House, not to the leadership. If we elect our committees, and have them elected through the entire House, they would have the legitimacy of the House.
The third thing this motion would do is give powers to our citizens. Right now, we talk to our citizens once every four years when we ask whom they want to elect. However, this motion would allow that, if there is a matter of great importance to people and they are able to get 70,000 citizens to sign a petition, we would debate it in Parliament. There would be an interaction there. A lot of people tell me that this is inside baseball and nobody cares about this. I disagree. When I have talked to citizens, they tell me that they want us to be more civil to one another; they want us to be more productive; and they want us to have better, truer debates. I firmly believe that this motion would bring us there.
Given our lack of time, it is unlikely that this motion will come to a vote. I recognize that, but it does not take away from the importance of our discussing it. I believe our democracy in Canada is one of our most precious gifts. It reminds me a bit of health. They say we never appreciate our health until we lose it. Not just around the world but here in Canada, we are seeing our democracies reduced.
Last week, we commemorated 75 years since D-Day. There are people who do not exist because their grandfather or grandmother died in the Second World War. They are not here, do not exist. My grandfather fought but luckily survived. I believe, sincerely, that we honour them and we honour their sacrifices by not taking our democracy for granted. I believe that, by making these changes to our democracy, we will strengthen it. In so doing, we will ensure that the administration of our democracy is in the hands of the many and not the few.