Mr. Speaker, I welcome the intervention of the member for Calgary Centre and my Conservative critic. I know he brings an enormous background in the files that he will be engaged in debate, and I appreciate that. I would also in his absence recognize the Bloc critic who spoke earlier. I paid particular attention to his intervention.
In terms of the characterization of this throne speech, the last two have been within a year, as offering nothing new, for the first time since the early eighties the community and the Government of Canada have engaged in a very meaningful way. The round table last April was historic. I was there as the minister of infrastructure and housing and the atmosphere at the time was optimistic and engaged. We are talking about 75 national organizations representing not only the aboriginal communities at a national level, but representing the communities themselves.
As a result of that, to speak to the question of specifics, this collaboration led to the establishment of six areas for action. I mentioned them in the speech, but I will not repeat them. This is a collaborative exercise. If we are going to treat the community with the kind of respect we talk of, then there is a responsibility to collaborate in a way that has been evidenced since the round table. In Winnipeg on November 13-14, for example, I and a hundred others will be specifically putting down action plans in terms of both early childhood and K to 12 education, just to use one example.
The other round tables have resulted in the accord in terms of aboriginal health. A meeting was held in conjunction with the first ministers meeting on health. Again, the community will say that it was the first time in many years that it has been so engaged.
We have to work together. These problems have been longstanding, as I said, over centuries. However, there is a genuine desire to get on with this and I encourage members of the House of Commons here today to help me in that task.