I am going to say two things, very quickly. I think that Canada historically has demonstrated leadership in the area of women's equality, women's rights and the health of women. This is a position that was established and developed and cultivated over a number of years. If this really marks the beginning of a change in our priorities with regard to international development, we need a public debate. We cannot just sweep everything away, off the table with one swift movement. We have to mandate a commission of inquiry or have this question put before Parliament. Before we reject everything we have to know why we are doing it and ensure that this is what we want to do. And you are the ones, parliamentarians, who have this responsibility.
Once again, if we are just going to reject in one fell swoop the principles of equality, our promises and our legal responsibility regarding women's equality and the rights of women, we cannot accept that this be done from one day to the next because it happens to be what one individual wishes or one government wishes.
These are principles Canada has always been proud of and for which we have been recognized internationally. We have to protect them, promote them and implement them. I completely agree with Sharon on the fact that it is absolutely essential that we move forward. We cannot slip back. We are women, and there are men also who have wives, partners, daughters, mothers, etc. We are talking about their lives; we have to move forward. We could talk about this indefinitely, but we absolutely have to accept the fact that we have the moral responsibility to move forward with this.