Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed having the hon. member as co-chair of the committee. I learned to respect him.
I also learned from the question he has just asked that sometimes he does not listen as well as he should. Had he listened well he would have heard that I talked not about catholic laws, not about the values held by the Pentecostals, the Baptists or any other group. What I said was that for a democracy to persist and for a democracy to flourish it was necessary to have a common set of principles, a shared set of values and a shared set of ethics. That is what I said.
There was no denominational significance given to the particular set of values but there had to be agreement on what there ought to be. I will put it in the context of the provision that exists in Ontario curriculum where there is no such common principle or set of values.
History has shown that these agreements on the common principles and values are held within the particular religious groups. Many of them are shared.
However, to deny them and to simply say you have these particular sets of values but the school comes along and says really it does not matter, there is this clarification that takes place and you can choose any one of them, it does not make any difference.
It does make a difference and that is the point I was trying to make. If the hon. member did not understand that, then he has a problem.