Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2006-11-06 15:30:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Tom Lukiwski (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, CPC)",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"249043\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Speaker, at the outset of my presentation, I said I knew all members would listen with rapt attention to my comments, but I did not realize the questions would be gift wrapped like that. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"249044\" data-originallang=\"en\">The hon. member is absolutely correct. There have been several occasions, not only the one in 2000, to which my hon. colleague refers, over the past two decades where incumbent governments, whether they be federal or provincial, have called elections well before the traditional four year election cycle. Why? They have done it for purely political partisan reasons. Perhaps the polls seemed to indicate that they would be in a better position to win an election if an election were called at that particular point in time.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"249045\" data-originallang=\"en\">This is the reason why we have introduced Bill <a data-HoCid=\"2221899\" href=\"/bills/39-1/C-16/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act\">C-16</a>, to put an end to the practices of previous governments that used their ability to call an election for their own purposes. In other words, for their own competitive advantages.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"249046\" data-originallang=\"en\">Canadians do not want to see that. It is not fair. It is certainly not transparent. It impedes both the business of government and the ability of the democratic electorate to fairly judge elections at a four year cycle.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"249047\" data-originallang=\"en\">I would suggest that not only will this bill put an end to those unsavoury practices. It will finally, after over one century of doing things the wrong way, correct the record and will finally put our country on an even keel with some of the more progressive countries that have already adopted fixed election dates. </p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"249043\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, au d\u00e9but de mon intervention, j'ai dit que les d\u00e9put\u00e9s seraient captiv\u00e9s par mes propos, mais j'ignorais que les questions seraient de v\u00e9ritables cadeaux comme celle-l\u00e0.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"249044\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le d\u00e9put\u00e9 a enti\u00e8rement raison. Depuis une vingtaine d'ann\u00e9es, il est arriv\u00e9 \u00e0 plusieurs reprises, hormis le cas de 2000, dont a parl\u00e9 mon coll\u00e8gue, qu'un gouvernement f\u00e9d\u00e9ral ou provincial a d\u00e9clench\u00e9 des \u00e9lections avant la fin du cycle \u00e9lectoral traditionnel de quatre ans. Pourquoi? Pour des raisons purement politiques. Les sondages promettaient peut-\u00eatre au gouvernement une meilleure chance de remporter les \u00e9lections si ces derni\u00e8res avaient lieu imm\u00e9diatement.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"249045\" data-originallang=\"en\">Voil\u00e0 pourquoi nous avons pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 le projet de loi <a data-HoCid=\"2221899\" href=\"/bills/39-1/C-16/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act\">C-16</a>, c'est-\u00e0-dire pour mettre un terme aux pratiques des gouvernements pr\u00e9c\u00e9dents qui se servaient de leur pouvoir de d\u00e9clencher des \u00e9lections pour parvenir \u00e0 leurs fins; en d'autres mots, pour jouir d'un avantage sur les autres partis.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"249046\" data-originallang=\"en\">Ce n'est pas ce que veulent les Canadiens. Ce n'est pas juste. Ce n'est certainement pas transparent. Cela nuit aux affaires de l'\u00c9tat et emp\u00eache l'\u00e9lectorat de se prononcer dans le cadre d'\u00e9lections justes tenues tous les quatre ans.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"249047\" data-originallang=\"en\">En plus de mettre un terme \u00e0 ces pratiques douteuses, qui durent depuis plus d'un si\u00e8cle, ce projet de loi nous placera finalement sur un pied d'\u00e9galit\u00e9 avec les autres pays progressistes qui tiennent d\u00e9j\u00e0 leurs \u00e9lections \u00e0 une date fixe. </p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2006/11/6/tom-lukiwski-6/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/tom-lukiwski/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/1534/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "1756337",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Government Orders",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Canada Elections Act",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2006/11/6/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2006%2F11%2F6%2F"
    }
}