Mr. Speaker, it is fundamentally different. If parliament is ever asked to surrender its authority over any subject matter to another level of government, surely this parliament ought to be consulted first and asked its opinion on that surrender.
The Nisga'a treaty contains a provision that in the event of an inconsistency between Nisga'a law and federal or provincial law, the Nisga'a law prevails. That provision applies to 14 specific subject areas of constitutional interest to this parliament.
If the Prime Minister really believes in the role and authority of parliament, why would he even think of signing this treaty before getting parliament's approval?