Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Uppal, thank you for coming here and giving us an indication of what motivated you to present this bill. It's laudable. A lot of us, in fact I'm sure all of us, are absolutely scandalized every time we think about the evil that can be perpetrated by organized governments, or disorganized governments, that are moved by ideology, which led to the Holocaust and World War II and the killing, the murder, of so many other millions of people. I'm glad there are people in this place who still recall that war is an evil activity and that genocide is even worse.
You know the House accepted that the principle of establishing a monument here in the national capital region was something that Canadian society could support. It doesn't matter whether we had a minister of the crown or a junior minister of the crown support your bill or not. This bill is a reflection of the will of the House of Commons. It reflects the approach of every single member of Parliament and all parties. Nobody wants to be associated with the Holocaust in a positive fashion. We want to be associated with every condemnation possible about it.
So we applaud your bill because it said the Government of Canada is going to put aside land. You didn't say that in your presentation, but that's what your bill says. It's going to put land aside in the national capital region, i.e., the place that every Canadian recognizes as his and hers, and they're going to establish a council that would get the financing together to establish such a commemorative monument.
Did you discuss the bill with your government before you presented it?