The hon. member says I do not understand it. I am about to explain it to him because it is clear this is an excuse to cover the bigotry that has been displayed by his colleagues in the House. It is a sick excuse.
What we have to look at in this case is that their notion of equality is to repeal the Canadian Human Rights Act and make a declaration that everyone is equal. I point out, as I have on numerous occasions in the House, the human rights code does not grant special rights to special groups. What the human rights code declares and what this bill will declare is that there may not be discrimination on certain bases.
The bases include things like sex, age and colour. Those words are in there and they are neutral. They are neutral in the human rights code. In other words, they give rights to both men and women when sex is talked about. When sexual orientation is mentioned it gives rights to bisexuals, to lesbians, to gays and to heterosexuals. These rights are across the board. They apply to everyone. The section on colour does not give rights only to blacks; it gives rights to all Canadians regardless of their skin colour.
Hon. members opposite forget that. They think that because it says sex and colour and sexual orientation it means women, blacks, gays and lesbians. That is what they think it means. Why do they think so? The Reform Party is made up of older white men. They do not realize discrimination exists because it has not been a particular problem for men who are elderly, who are white and who already have jobs and are doing very well in society.
That is primarily what the Reform Party is made up of. If we go to any Reform meeting the preponderance of men is overwhelming. They are almost all white. They are almost all Anglo-Saxon. They are not part of the other minority groups which form the country, and of the majority group of women who have been under represented in many of the institutions and professions in the country for generations.
What we have here is an attempt by the Reform Party to cover up that its members do not agree with the principles of the human rights act in its effort to grant equal rights to all Canadians.