Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary indicated quite correctly to the House that it was going to take more provincial governments signing on and implementing this protocol before it takes effect. He pointed out that both Ontario and Nova Scotia have already signed on.
Earlier in his speech he indicated that the department is in continuous consultation with the provinces with regard to this matter, along with other branches of the federal government. Toward the end of his comments he urged hon. members to contact their provincial counterparts. However, I think he would agree with me, as important as it is to contact our provincial counterparts regarding this important piece of legislation, that leadership will still have to come from the department and the government.
In that regard, is the parliamentary secretary aware of how far down the road we are on this? Can he give us some sort of prediction that we could rely on as to when this is going to be fully implemented? In as much as his department and the Government of Canada are in constant communication with the provinces, how soon is this going to be implemented?