Mr. Speaker, I want to take this time to commend the aboriginal members of our caucus. It is tremendous to have three aboriginal members to give us different perspectives on items that people would not otherwise think of, coming from different backgrounds, and perhaps open our eyes on some of these new concepts.
In particular, I would like to congratulate the member who just spoke. I know his time in the House is coming to an end. He has been a tremendous asset for our party in many of the behind-door meetings I have had. He has been a champion of aboriginal initiatives and has fought hard behind closed doors to get some very interesting and creative ideas forward.
I would like to ask him to comment on three concerns that were raised this morning. As this is a permanent record, I am sure that everyone wants to make sure the record is accurate both for the concerns that were raised, which were good, and the answers to those concerns. I wonder if the member could talk about the concept of the third order of government.
Someone suggested that this would create a third order of government, which it would not, technically or constitutionally. What it would do, operationally, is allow people to govern their own snow shoveling, culture, land, water and sewage services, and those types of things. I would like him to speak to the comment that was made earlier that we should not be creating a third level of government, which of course I do not agree with.