Mr. Speaker, let me respond to the stewardship issue first. The government keeps trying to beat up on the opposition parties, and I do not know of any other way to say it, by trotting out the work it already has done regarding stewardship and what the bill will allow for. It is not an issue. We are fully supportive of that. There is not one member of the committee who did not see the value of the stewardship programs that already exist and what has been established under the bill for the future. That is not an issue. We agree that is the best way to do it. That is not what the argument is about.
What it is really about is what if it does not work? What if we get recalcitrant people over there? What if we do not compensate them well enough and they just cannot do it? Those are the other issues. That is what the fight over the bill was about as far as stewardship is concerned. It was not that we not do it, it was just the opposite, that we already do some of it. I do not know what else I can say in response to that other than to press the government as much as possible to do it in the proper fashion for which the bill sets out a framework.
With regard to it covering Canada, it goes back to the whole issue of discretion. It does not cover migratory birds. The government had a shot at it with this last round of amendments. It included aquatic species but did not include migratory birds. The reality is that if the species is on provincial land, it is discretionary as to whether it will be invoked or not. On private land it is the same thing. The mandatory part of it is very limited. I am not backing off on that at all.
As far as legal opinions, of course we can always trot out the lawyer jokes but I am sorry, this issue is too serious for that. Mr. Justice La Forest, a retired supreme court justice and an acknowledged expert, is very clearly of the opinion that the legislation from a constitutional jurisdiction standpoint could go much further. That is the position which I took.