Mr. Speaker, very quickly, the media reports I was referring to were not the media reports on the hearing. They were, in fact, media reports on the opposition day motion which we voted on in the House. The media reports indicated that government members had decided they were voting to do nothing, and that is not the case.
I am glad the member raised the issue about why I signed a letter to the Prime Minister on behalf of a number of caucus colleagues asking for attention. The reason I signed the letter was because at the time the letter was written—and the case had happened a week earlier—the position of the government was that we would defend the laws of Canada before the Supreme Court of Canada. The letter that I signed, together with a large number of my caucus colleagues, was to ask the Prime Minister and the justice minister to consider stronger, more direct action because of the importance of the issue.
Indeed, to the credit of the caucus members who spoke up in caucus and who signed that letter, the justice minister did announce that the federal government was going to participate in the B.C. appeal hearing along with the attorney general of B.C. to deal with it right then and there, the swiftest, most effective way to deal with a very bad court decision.
I thank the member for his question. I wrote the letter because it was the right thing to do.