Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member across the way for some of his comments. He probably does not know, because it is not customary for his side of the floor, that on a regular basis I communicate with my constituents and ask them what they feel about legislation. I have asked them about the Nisga'a agreement and I will ask them again when it comes before the House. I honour their suggestions and their directions.
When we talk about it not being a constitutional amendment, that is up for debate. Some people feel that it is not a direct constitutional amendment that we are looking for but that it will indirectly become part of the constitution and will not be able to be changed by an order of council.
The hon. member is colouring the image when he suggests that the government can change the agreement whenever it feels like it with an order of council. That is not so. It will take the agreement of all three parties for any changes to be made. As with the Canada-Quebec accord and with immigration, it is often impossible to get the agreement of two parties to change an agreement when one party would lose a lot of its benefits because of the change.
The hon. member says that the charter of rights will apply. Why is that addendum added to the application of the charter of rights if it does not mean anything? If it is there it means something. If it does not mean anything then it should not be there.
I think the people of British Columbia and the people of Canada are asking for clarity. They want to know exactly what it means. It is quite different taking something to the supreme court or to the courts for clarification prior to legislating than it is to have courts making decisions because of the ambiguity and the grey areas left in legislation by the government of the day.