Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the hon. member for Elgin—Middlesex—London.
First, just for historical fun, it turns out that the term “gerrymandering” is as old as the War of 1812. It occurred in the state of Massachusetts when Governor Elbridge Gerry managed to redistribute a riding so it resembled nothing so much as a salamander.
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As we add MPs, we are adding costs. I think the Canadian people are more concerned with the costs of this place than whether we have our own desks.
Would it be possible to have a formula by which current members of Parliament accepted reductions to their own salaries as we added new members to this place?
Joe Preston: Mr. Speaker, I will pass on the message that the member requires no salary to the Board of Internal Economy.
The rest of us came here to do a job and we were sent here as equals, as equal members of Parliament, all 308 of us. Some of the members from Ontario represent 170,000 and some of the members in the House represent less than that. If there is an inequality, we need to fix that part first.