Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
He is absolutely right. The minister began his remarks today by having the gall to question the Reform Party for even wanting to debate this issue in the House. He asked, how dare we to even want to debate this issue? Is this not a democratic institution? Is this not what this House is for? But, no, we should not be debating this. Anytime we even raise an aboriginal issue and want to debate it, we are labelled. Frankly that has an odour to it that I cannot abide.
Second, my colleague points out that the minister said that this would be an insult to the province of British Columbia if the government were to accept the motion of the Reform Party. For the benefit of members in the House who do not live in British Columbia, I could tell them how insulting the government of the province of British Columbia has been to the citizens of British Columbia in recent months. Its members have absolutely no regard for the public interest. They put their own interest forward all the time. They are so blatantly ideologically driven that there is no hope they could ever be re-elected as a government in British Columbia.
Yet this very administration is the one that is negotiating behind closed doors, in secret, with the Nisga'a and with other aboriginal groups right now and contemplating, as rumours go, making agreements that are going to have long term implications for British Columbia.
In response to the member's question on what I have done as a member of Parliament and as a representative of the people of Skeena since I was elected, I held a series of four town hall meetings in my riding, in Smithers, Terrace, Prince Rupert and Kitimat. I brought the issue to the people and said that we need to have a public discussion on this.
Subsequent to that, my colleague and I went around the province of British Columbia. We held town hall meetings at in Williams Lake, Quesnel, Prince George, Nanaimo, Cranbrook and in several areas in greater Vancouver. We have done as much as we possibly can to bring the issue to the people, something that the province of British Columbia, and I might add, the federal government have never cared one whit about doing, not one whit.
The reason I feel so passionate about this, and I mean this sincerely, is this. What is going to happen if the province of British Columbia and the federal government sign a deal with which the people cannot live? The native people's expectation levels are at an all time high. They have been led to believe that these agreements, once they are entered into and signed, are going to be abided by, that they are going to be honoured. We already have opposition parties in British Columbia saying that they do not intend to honour them.
Think of the tremendous social upheaval we are going to have if governments sign agreements with which the people are not going to live, which the people do not want and will not accept. It is absolutely critical that we do not sign agreements unless we are sure they are going to be supported by the public.