Mr. Speaker, the member did not really give an explanation, but I suppose quite a passionate presentation.
The member's closing point is interesting. I am glad to hear that he is coming around to the Canadian Alliance position on some of the problems with the Official Languages Act. When necessary, of course, positions should be bilingual, but when it is not necessary he and I would agree. That is the problem that we have at times with some of the postings in the Canadian public service where the bilingual portion of it is abused. That is exactly the same position. However, I must say that some of the member's other comments were a little over the top.
I appreciate the efforts of the member for New Westminster—Coquitlam—Burnaby who has worked in committee, with the minister, and other colleagues to improve the bill. Although it is not perfect, we must decide if it is an improvement on the status quo. I believe it is. The member was able to improve things such as the whistleblowing portion. I wish to congratulate him and others who accepted that amendment.
When I listened to the member talk about accessibility and opportunity for workers throughout the country, I wondered whether he and his party would agree that the story this week in the Vancouver Sun about a worker who was denied accessibility to a job because he was white is also a travesty?
A guy applied for a job and was told that he was not allowed to apply for the job because the job had been designated for someone of an ethnic minority. The job was with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the guy was fully qualified. The first qualification was--and this is not a francophone thing this time, c'est un autre problème avec le gouvernement--that the person had to fit a certain ethnic profile before applying for the job.
We have had a lot of discussion about geographic equality. I would like to get this member's opinion because as far as I know the NDP is solidly behind the Employment Equity Act and the way it is administered to the public service. I would like to know whether he thinks that the worker out on the west coast, who fully qualified for this job and should have a shot at it, was ripped off? I think he was.
I think a guy who is qualified should be allowed to apply. I would like to know whether the NDP agrees with that or whether it supports the idea of quotas in the civil service based on ethnicity?