Mr. Chair, our government is very cognizant of being able to actually fulfill international treaties or declarations. As such, when we analyzed this declaration as written by the United Nations and ratified by other countries, we appreciated the fact that what we had accomplished in our country over the years would be unravelled by this declaration. As such, we could not take on that international obligation. It would not be something we would be able to fulfill, unlike her previous government which was happy to do that on many declarations.
In the House of Commons on May 29th, 2008. See this statement in context.