Mr. Speaker, the hon. member talked about the motion somehow being cynical.
Under normal circumstances a government in the last several months of its mandate does not enter into major binding commitments. If it does so, it is at the peril of the arrangements being cancelled. There is a clear precedent for that in the province of British Columbia and there is a clear precedent for that federally. This administration should know that better than anyone. This administration cancelled the EH-101 project. This administration tried to cancel the Pearson deal.
The province of British Columbia should voluntarily back off. However it has indicated that it wants a deal by January. The likelihood is that there will be an election between March and June. This is totally inappropriate for a precedent setting agreement. There are 47 other agreements being negotiated and this would become the precedent. As I mentioned earlier, $10 billion is the early price tag put on this business.
There was discussion about the Nisga'a framework agreement entered into by Mr. Weisgerber in 1991. I talked about it earlier in my speech. I quoted section 7.1.1 which is often used to say there was no openness in the agreement and that Mr. Weisgerber had agreed to it. I do not have to defend Mr. Weisgerber. However I can read what the agreement says. To me it does not say what it has been interpreted to say. I will read it again:
The parties will together develop and implement a process of public information and consultation and will attend meetings with such selected individuals, organizations or groups as they may agree will assist in the process of public consensus building, and the parties may separately carry out such additional consultation and communication initiatives as they see fit, including initiatives to obtain a broad range of input and consensus.
Those are hardly cloaked in mystery, secret or non-transparent negotiations.
There is a further interpretation by the member that somehow our motion is suggesting there should not be any negotiations. That is not what we are saying at all. We are saying there should not be no conclusive negotiations, no conclusive agreement during this latter part of this current mandate at the provincial level.
It is a very simple, limited request. The member is misinterpreting it.