Mr. Speaker, there is a huge disconnect between the political philosophy of the Conservative Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party as it pertains to aboriginal and treaty rights and to the application of the treaties in terms of land and resources.
I heard him make reference to private property. There is a Eurocentric sort of naiveté on the part of many Conservative Party of Canada members who think the answer to the housing crisis on first nations reserves can be found in private ownership. That is a Eurocentric construct that almost speaks to an arrogance or a paternalism that many people find offensive. It is not the aspiration of everyone to build equity in their own home. Many people have a sense of community. Many people have a sense of collectivism, especially in traditional cultures.
There is a Eurocentric naiveté that borders on offensive when my colleague tries to trivialize the issue of sharing of land and resources with his own narrow Eurocentric construct associated with private property.
Some of the Conservative views about private property are worrisome even. Everyone believes in fee simple title for their own homes. The way some Conservatives view private property is the absolute freedom to do whatever they wish with their property, even if that means the right to keep certain people off their property or the right to pollute their property without the intervention of the state.
I always worries me when I hear a Conservative starting to harp about private property and the absoluteness of the sanctity of private property in contrast to the collectivity, or the rights of the collective or the well-being of the collective.
What we see in traditional cultures is a lot more comfort with a communal enterprise, shared resources. In terms of sharing resources, the bill is more in keeping with the traditional views of the first nations we are dealing with than it is with my colleague's rather narrow view of the world.