I want to say a few words on this, because I, too, was moved by Senator Bellemare's speech. I understand she has a difficult job. Senators Harder and Mitchell have different jobs than the rest of us: It is their responsibility to get legislation through this chamber, and it's our responsibility to question that legislation with more detail than others.

I'm torn on Bill C-4. I voted for the secret ballot the first time. I'm inclined to vote that way again, but I have not decided. I know the vote is coming up shortly, but I take some offence at the tone of the remarks about the responsibility of the Senate. I look at what Sir John A. Macdonald said about the Senate:

There would be no use of an Upper House, if it did not exercise, when it thought proper, the right of opposing or amending or postponing the legislation of the Lower House. It would be of no value whatever were it a mere chamber for registering the decrees of the Lower House.

In that spirit, I think about this legislation. I understand it's a government initiative, but the problem I have is that the Prime Minister made it very clear that he wants the Senate to return to what it was originally intended to be. It may very well be what Sir John A. Macdonald intended. We're evolving in that direction. But this bill was a whipped vote in the House of Commons; it was not a free vote. So is it the will of the House of Commons or the Prime Minister's Office?

I will give an example. Senator Cowan's Senate bill on genetic discrimination was a free vote in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister, to his everlasting credit, allowed a free vote, but he publicly spoke against the bill. His Minister of Justice spoke against the bill. I understand there was detailed discussion in the national Liberal caucus, which I don't attend but I still have friends there. Liberal MPs in large numbers walked out and voted as they wanted to. In other words, that was the will of the House of Commons.

Is this the will of the House of Commons, or is this the result of a whipped vote?

I know some of the newer members have had outstanding careers in their fields, but may not have been involved in politics, so let me briefly explain to them what a whipped vote means: It means that members of Parliament cannot run if the Prime Minister, the leader of their party, does not sign their nomination papers. There is a sword hanging over their heads. It was changed, I believe, in the late 1970s or 1980s to give that power to the leader of every party. It means the whip in the House of Commons has tremendous authority. Many times, MPs will say, "I would like to be away; I can't really vote for this." And the whip will say, "No, you have to vote for it because if you are away then others will want to be away. It's a team effort." The member will say, "Well, I disagree." And the whip will say, "Sorry, you have to vote for it." We don't know. Was that the case in this bill or not? It's because it is a whipped vote.