Mr. Speaker, I would like to answer the hon. member's question in French, but my French is not good enough.
So I am forced to answer in English. I certainly would concur with my colleague that the model he cites which is being used in the province of Quebec is the kind of thing that I certainly would be advocating for the province of Nova Scotia. In fact I should advise him that the legal aid system under which I worked took some of our own tight budget and directed it toward a pilot mediation program to attempt to indicate to the provincial government the need for this kind of program.
Unfortunately the program is not in place in the way that we would like in the province. I would see an opportunity at the federal level. If this kind of program could be enacted as divorce mediation at the federal level, the different provinces might then see the benefit in this kind of a program and follow the federal lead.
I certainly commend the province of Quebec in taking this type of action but I would not at this point indicate that the federal government ought to withdraw completely. I think it has a role to play, as a leader, in those provinces that might not be as forward thinking as the province of my hon. colleague.