Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for a very thoughtful question. It should be remembered that the federal government is only one player in this process and in the spirit of pluralistic federalism we do not seek to impose our will on the other players. We seek consensus.
One of the realities we face when we look at the provinces is personnel change. Provincial elections change, governments change their own attitudes. On this issue we could say we will adopt the Pepin-Robarts report. We will apply this sort of formula.
We would like, however, the provinces to help us on this issue. For example opting out, is this something that all provinces would accept? If it is not, why not? Is it something that some would accept and not others?
As federal players we are not seeking to impose our will. We are part of a process and we recognize that the delays, which we would regret as much as anybody, occur from the necessary democratic point of obtaining a consensus.