Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Victoria on his inaugural speech, which was wonderful, informed and inspiring. I also want to thank the member for Nanaimo—Cowichan for her motion which we are debating today.
As the opposition finance critic, I have very close knowledge of the omnibus bills that the government has brought in to implement budget measures which include a vast array of legislative changes that have absolutely nothing to do with budgets. It gets to the fundamental issue the member for Victoria raised about respect, respect for democracy, respect for the process of Parliament and ultimately, as he said in his speech, respect for first nations.
I know he was not here through much of the budget debate, but could he comment about the importance of respect for first nations and what that means for strengthening democracy in Canada, that nation-to-nation respect?