Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. McKinnon, for presenting this private member's bill to us today.
For linguistic minorities, for women and for indigenous people, the Court Challenges Program matters. Its objective is to provide financial support to Canadians to bring before the courts test cases of national significance that aim to clarify and to assert certain constitutional and quasi-constitutional official language rights and human rights.
Over its nearly 30-year history, from 1978 to 2006, the program funded more than 500 cases and interventions. These included a landmark ruling affirming sexual orientation as protected from discrimination, ruling out the defence of implied consent in sexual assault cases and confirming Métis and non-status rights as constitutionally protected.
It's also a program constantly under threat, whether it's by Liberals due to a lack of funding or by Conservatives who have twice cut the Court Challenges Program completely—once under Mulroney, who originally expanded it but then decided to withdraw financial support, and then again under Harper in 2006. Conservatives clearly like their challenges underfunded and under-resourced.
Multiple committees, civil society and others have recommended that the government enshrine the Court Challenges Program in legislation in order to enhance its sustainability and to ensure any cancellation would require the approval of Parliament.
Are you, Mr. McKinnon, worried that a future Conservative government would cancel a court challenges program, absent this legislation?