Mr. Speaker, the member has raised the issue around jurisdictional issues. What seems to be getting left out of this discussion is the fact there is another jurisdiction to consider, and that is the first nations jurisdiction. In Ontario and in British Columbia first nations have been completely left out of the discussion.
In Ontario there are treaty rights around point of sale tax exemptions, which are completely being disregarded by the federal government. The Conservatives can talk all they want about discussions at the provincial government level, but I need to remind those that the federal government has the fiduciary responsibility and honour of the Crown to deal with first nations.
In British Columbia the first nations leadership has demanded that they be consulted in this process.
Could the member talk about the fact that we will have four hours in the middle of the night at the finance committee, in which we will be unable to call witnesses to talk about these very important issues? Could he talk about that democratic process of effectively shutting out another level of government that should have a say on whether this unfair, aggressive tax is applied to it?