Madam Speaker, I am wondering whether the hon. member listened to the speech I delivered or paid enough attention to the great number of people who appeared before the human rights and status of disabled persons committee to understand that the Employment Equity Act is a positive measure by the government to ensure that some of the inequities in society are addressed in the fairest possible way.
One of the exercises the hon. member should do, if he is serious about bringing about positive change to society, is to look at the power structure in the country, whether political or economic, to see whether the cultural diversity present in the population is reflected within the power structure. He could perhaps read The Vertical Mosaic by Porter, which will enlighten him a great deal about the sort of things we have to do to make society a fairer and more just society than it is today. I cited a few statistics during my speech that clearly illustrated it was a very fair act that was trying to address some of the existing inequities.
I know where the hon. member and the Reform Party are coming from. They are concerned a great deal about the white male relationship to the economy. I understand their instinctual response to that because obviously intellectually it is very poor.
I want to tell them again, so they can get it straight once and for all, that while white Canadian males make up 45 per cent of the workforce they land 55 per cent of the jobs. When Reform members are speaking to their constituents they should present them with the facts of life as they relate to the Canadian reality. They should try to tell them that discrimination unfortunately exists in the country. It does affect aboriginal people, persons with disabilities and visible minorities who are not given fair treatment in our economic system.
We as a society could close our eyes to that reality, or we as a government could open our eyes to the reality and try to address it. Through Bill C-64 the government is heading in the right direction.
I say to the Reform Party that it should not kid itself. Canadians understand where that party is coming from.