As you know, this is a fairly difficult and sad time for human rights because we're dealing with a quite heartless government that is not that concerned by these issues. It is a government that has resolutely chosen to sit on the right, and, like all right-wing governments, it does not believe in equal opportunity. That's the difference between the existence of a court challenges program and its non-existence. I'm saying that we won't yield. The minister can represent the Francophones in his riding all he wants, but he didn't want to answer my questions today. We're going to introduce motions.
You're familiar with the democratic adage that governments are sometimes blind but never deaf. We have to raise the volume. In all regions of Canada, I hope there's a caravan of personalities—I'm going to talk to my caucus about this—that travels through the Francophone communities to let them know how dangerous this government is for those who believe in equal opportunity for Francophones.
I never understood the Court Challenges Programs as such was a program that provided 100% funding for leave to go to court. That's obvious. You have contribution agreements and you receive $2.8 million a year. I read in your contribution agreements that you have to reserve $1.8 million for challenges; the rest is to cover expenses. You don't have a big budget; that's clear. The principle is this: what we accept because we're democrats is not challenges against laws; it's defining what laws are. The idea is to define the extent of a right. It isn't because a law was defined in a particular manner in 1996 that it won't be expanded and defined in another way in 2001, 2002 or 2003.
I'm not talking about section 15, but let's just take the idea of the entire issue of the manaagement of school boards, which we call school commissions in Quebec. How could anyone think that, without the Court Challenges Program, there would have been major advances like those we witnessed a few years ago. So point that out to this government, and I hope that the ministerial types switch to listening mode and that we have a minimum amount of awareness so that they can again realize that the vitality of our communities is at stake. I know we're not talking about their survival, but rather about the vitality of our communities.
Once again, there is a price to be paid by a right-wing government. When things go well, when we can afford to go to court, when we have no reversals of fortune in life, we don't need the government. When you're in the majority and you live in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, when you're Anglo-Saxon and speak the language of the majority, you don't need the courts. The program isn't for that.
I apologize on behalf of the government for having one like that. May it please God and voters that, next time, this government is dispatched as it deserves. However, tell us how important for schools management the rights that you defend and the Court Challenges Program are.