So, this government approves a plan to promote equality between men and women. Mr. Speaker, could they please let me finish? The government pledges to implement the program for action approved at the fourth world conference on women. It passes a bill on gun control. That is nice, but that is also very little after two years in office.
Let us now look at what the government did not do. Let us look at the missed opportunities. There are quite a few. The government did not amend the Criminal Code to specifically prohibit female genital mutilation. That is also a form of violence. It does not happen here, but it is a form of violence. It also takes place in Canada. The government did not protest to Chinese authorities when, just last week, the situation of orphan baby girls became public. That is also a form of violence against women. These women are seen as an excess, a surplus.
The government did not amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to protect homosexuals against discrimination. That is also another form of violence. The government did not put its reform projects through the prism of its plan to promote equality for women, thus forcing many women to live in poverty. That is another form of violence, and we are still a long way from achieving equality between the two sexes.
In conclusion, I ask the government to truly follow the spirit and the letter of the recommendations made 25 years ago already. I ask the government to implement, in its own fields of jurisdiction, true measures to promote equality between men and women, so that some day we can say that the tragedy which occurred at Polytechnique was a terrible but isolated incident.