Mr. Speaker, there are actually two issues that the hon. member mentioned. One is the issue of which group in our society actually makes the laws. Of course it is Parliament, the institution we are sitting in today.
However, courts do make decisions. As the member knows full well, there is a way for Parliament to actually overturn them, that is, with the use of the notwithstanding clause.
For those who oppose this bill, which basically means the Conservative Party members in this House, it is their right to do so, but if they truly want to oppose this, if they mean it, they have to stand up in the House today and say that they are going to use the notwithstanding clause if they are in government.
That, by law, is the only way in which this issue can be changed in the manner they want, but have we heard them offer this up as a solution? No, we have not. If this is a political issue on the part of the members of the Conservative Party, if they truly want to do this, I challenge them to say that they are going to use the notwithstanding clause. That is the law.
On the issue of the three line whip structure, when the current Prime Minister came into power, part of the democratization of the House he wanted was to change the way in which voting took place. For the first time in the history of the House, a three line whip structure, such as that which Prime Minister Blair has started in the United Kingdom, was adopted in this House, at least on this side. That is a far cry from what existed in previous decades, where such a three line whip structure did not occur. My colleagues from this side of the House and behind do indeed have a true free vote, because this is a two line whip structure and they can vote for or against the bill. In fact, we have seen this exercised at second reading.
The members from the other side know full well that members of the government have voted for and against the bill by virtue of their conscience and by virtue of what their constituents wanted them to do.
Again, I challenge the member from the other side. If the members of the Conservative Party want to oppose the bill, then let them stand and say that they are going to use the notwithstanding clause. If not, they should vote for it and go home.