Mr. Speaker, would the member comment on the question of the ideological bend toward the tax and budget cuts, especially when we look at the $1 billion supposed savings that the federal government put forward?
Let us look at where and how the government made these cuts. Let us look at something like the court challenges fund, which permitted communities, collectives, individuals, church groups to go to court with funding assistance from the federal government, if they had a valid case, to ensure that their rights were respected. Does he see it as I do, as a back door approach to stymie the Charter of Rights?
Does he agree that ideologically the Conservative government does not agree with the charter, does not believe that the charter should limit the powers of government, that it should be able to do anything it wants, even as a minority government, and that Canadians should not have access to assistance to defend or promote their rights in test cases before the courts?
I have a similar question with regard to the Status of Women. Its budget was reduced and with what remains it is limited in its activities. It cannot grant money to organizations that do research or advocacy. It cannot do advocacy work for women. I do not see that it leaves much more than the exchanging of brownie recipes.
Could the member comment on those points?