Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the member from the Conservative Party, for his question. He is someone with whom I get along well and agree to disagree.
In answer to his preamble, I will say this. He stated that throughout history the Conservatives have always been very respectful of jurisdictional boundaries. First, it is my opinion that the motion says the reverse. Second, during the first election campaign I ran in, in 1997, the Conservative platform under the leadership of Jean Charest explicitly mentioned national standards for education, which is very clearly an area of exclusive provincial jurisdiction.
Furthermore, with all due respect, I must disagree with the member when he says that this is a shared jurisdiction. Water as such is local in nature. Under section 92 of the Constitution, I want to pull out, but in the meantime we might as well abide by it, everything listed there is a provincial responsibility.
The member's premise is completely wrong. This is an area of exclusive provincial jurisdiction. Again I question the need for the federal government to stick its nose into this.