Just before we have a vote, it was very interesting to hear in the testimony—I believe it was in the first session—that former member Mauril Bélanger and Mr. Fast had a very interesting exchange over the fact that Mr. Bélanger, along with a person by the name of Louis Quigley, had jointly ended up funding $115,000 virtually out of their own pockets. Mr. Bélanger could not put the lawyer fees against the House of Commons and Mr. Quigley did not have access to this program. I believe Mr. Fast made the representation that this was a point, that Mr. Quigley should have had equal access, but Mr. Bélanger took a different perspective.
Last week I received a copy of a January 26 letter from Louis Quigley—he's from Moncton—that he had submitted to the editor of the Moncton Times & Transcript. He says in the letter the following:
One of the actions of the federal government that raised eyebrows was the cancellation of the Court Challenges Program, whose mandate was: “To provide support to important court test cases challenging federal legislation...based on equality rights under section 15 and 27 and 28—of the Constitution.” In my opinion, there are solid arguments to support its cancellation. The government spent several million dollars each year to support this bureaucratic institution when there were numerous safeguards already in place to protect the rights of citizens, usually without any court involvement. The “arm's length” policy of the government in overseeing where and how the money was being spent did nothing to inspire confidence. Accountability was minimal. Canadians who believe that their rights are being violated by any federal agency, whether Constitutional equality rights or language rights, may be assured that there are numerous sources of redress: First, every Canadian has a Member of Parliament, whose duty is to hear the concerns of his or her constituents and, where justified, to help the individual find his or her way through the labyrinth of the federal bureaucracy to a source of redress.