Mr. Speaker, the member talked about the direction the government is taking. My first response is it seems to be going in circles, but that is not really accurate. The government is going backward, and it is going backward in terms of women's rights.
What we see with the cancellation of the court challenges program and the end of funding for research and policy development for Status of Women Canada is quite symptomatic of what can only be described as an entrenching of Republican style values.
The member talked about the appointment of judges and administrators who were closely aligned with the Prime Minister's own thinking. I would like to remind the Prime Minister that he is one citizen of this country. There are 33 million more, and they too have a right to develop and participate in this country as full citizens, not by a narrow set of rules that is determined by one individual.
It is time for the Prime Minister to take his role seriously as a leader, as a leader who makes it possible for people to develop and to contribute, a leader who brings out the very best in this country, not one who would take it backward to a time we shudder to think of, because it was a time when women were undermined, when immigrants were undermined, and when minority groups and first nations were undermined. We cannot possibly return to those times. We need to go forward.