--but “Lightning McCallum” has decided that this bill has to go through the committee very quickly.
I guess the reason is the following: the Liberals, who still have the name even though they don't have the principles, are going to allow this bill to go through this committee despite the fact that it removes a human right from Canadian women to have equal pay for work of equal value.
There was a time--in fact, it was November 27, 2008--when the Liberals believed this was such an important issue that they were ready to topple the government. They had a Liberal leader at that time. Two months later, the exact same provision is in this bill, and now they're pleading; they're saying that because of the economic downturn they have to go against women's rights. What a scandal.
That, coming from the Conservatives, is an ideological standpoint and doesn't surprise us, but it is properly scandalous to hear the party of Pierre Trudeau, the party of the Charter of Rights, come before this committee today and plead in favour of the removal of human rights from Canadian women, saying that it's because of the economic downturn.
The two are unrelated. There's not a single penny involved in this bill. There's no spending involved. The government has admitted that it won't save any money. They're simply withdrawing from women the right to have equal pay for work of equal value.
The bill goes further, and this is a point well worth looking at. It now sets the bar at 70%, across the board, for the triggering mechanism to determine when this can be looked at. The problem is that Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick have set it at 60% over the years, so the government is essentially, through the back door, eliminating any possibility to even trigger the weak mechanism that's there. And with the complicity, the shameful complicity, of the Liberals, this bill is going to get through.
The only thing that Lightning McCallum and his team are worried about is getting this bill through as fast as possible so they don't have to wear the shame of backing the Conservatives in taking away women's rights, taking away workers' rights, taking away native rights, and taking away all of the things they claim to represent and speak for in this country but simply don't believe in.
You know why, Mr. Chair? Because they don't believe in anything. They are the most unprincipled group ever to have sat in this Parliament.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask Ms. Asselin to tell us if in her opinion, there is some kind of financial motivation behind this proposal from the Conservatives, with the complicity of the Liberals, or is it more of an ideological attack?