Madam Speaker, I will certainly respond. I thank the member for his comments. I too want to acknowledge Rod Murphy and all of his help.
Since 1984 the pay equity issue has been on the table with the Government of Canada. Since that time the government has failed to respond even though a report from the human rights commission indicated that those workers were entitled to fair pay for equal work.
As I was speaking to a Reform motion I happened to become aware of a statement by a former Reform MP from Simcoe Centre. I want to read his statement: “As you are no doubt aware, the Reform Party and I do not support the notion of pay equity as outlined by the federal government and the human rights tribunal. We believe the hiring and remuneration decisions should be made solely on the basis of merit without regard for gender or other inalienable characteristics”.
It would sound to me, just as I see this Reformer was using whatever he could to talk about equality—