All honourable members will remember that before we became the government, treaties were not normally tabled in the House of Commons. That's a practice that has been instituted by our government pursuant to a campaign commitment. That of course relates to what are called significant treaties that take on significant federal obligations. The difference in this agreement is it doesn't create significant federal obligations. The obligations that are created are obligations of the provinces and the territories, so sub-federal entities. So in that sense, it's not the type of agreement that was contemplated for tabling in the House. In fact, you could argue that if this policy were applied in the provinces, that's where the tabling would have to take place. The essential ratification we were looking for was the indication and consent of the provinces and the territories to the final text of the agreement.
On March 30th, 2010. See this statement in context.