Mr. Speaker, it may be true that these conflicts exist out in society. It should not surprise us that they do. The items the member refers to are probably ones that began before this federal bill got to Parliament. In any event, the bill has not even passed yet so it could not possibly have an impact on the street.
What is going on is that the issue is out on the street. Therefore, we have to find ways to regularize and accommodate the resolution of those conflicts. While we can legislate here in this Parliament for federal matters, we cannot legislate in areas of exclusive jurisdiction. That is simply something we cannot do, we never could do and we never will be able to do.
However, the fact act that we have addressed these issues and have legislated in a certain way in an attempt to codify the conflict between individual equality rights and religious rights and freedoms is quite likely to be noticed by provincial institutions. They may want to take another tack or another course, but I think we have done the right thing by legislating in this way. I think it will provide some leadership to those institutions as they all attempt to resolve these conflicts.
In any event, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is always there as a backstop. A number of the people who are involved in these situations will ultimately have to rely on the charter to defend themselves.