There's no one else here, so I suppose I should finish what I was saying. I will start where I left off.
I'll begin at the beginning.
I obviously indicated my concerns with the amendment.
An attempt was made by this committee to previously amend the bill in a way that would allow Mr. Lessard and the Bloc party to have the ability for Quebec to opt out but still receive the benefits and the funding. That wasn't acceptable; it wasn't going to work. The Speaker said so, and this amendment is an attempt to get around that somehow. I think it will be challenged by the Speaker. If it wasn't a means to get around that, then Mr. Lessard would not be happy with the bill.
It says that “Quebec may, as a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights...”. My understanding is that it's factually and legally incorrect, in that parties to international conventions are either provinces or territories, and they aren't referred to as parties. That's one of the facts relating to the amendment that I take issue with.
The other is that in this case it allows Quebec to “participate in the benefits of the act with respect to its own choices, its own programs, and its own approach related to housing on its territory”, which again hardly makes it a national housing strategy.
If you're going to have a national housing strategy, then everybody has to abide by it. I think in principle we don't need one because we already have federal, provincial, territorial first ministers' meetings. They're already looking at precisely the things that we're talking about here.
The Speaker says that the bill itself does not involve any commitment of money, so what we're talking about is a strategy that is simply some overarching principles that are presently being adhered to. I think that if we make a special provision for Quebec, it would be strange in a national housing policy that we would have specific reference to one province and give any special benefits or privileges or special conditions that we're not prepared to give to all provinces.
If the drafters of this bill were going to be fair and logical to all of Canada nationally, they would include all provinces and all territories. Why you might specifically include only Quebec would have to be out of appeasement to the Bloc and Mr. Lessard, who wants to preserve the province's right to do as it pleases and do its own thing and get funding at the same time--if there is funding.
From a position of principle, we would oppose this particular amendment.
Thank you.
