Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles just asked a question about an amendment proposed by the NDP. However, there was a second part to this amendment, namely the idea of protecting access to public and heritage seeds.
I am mentioning this because in Kahnawake there is someone named Steve McCumber who is known as the guardian of the plants. He saves heirloom seeds and traditional varieties of three plants that are very traditional for the Iroquois. They are known as the three sisters: squash, corn and beans. This is very important for aboriginal cultures and for Iroquois culture in particular.
Another example comes from Montreal, a few years ago, when a variety of melon was rediscovered. The species was grown in the 19th century and was very productive. Once the island of Montreal became more urban, production stopped. However, it produced well and perhaps we could reproduce all of those varieties I just mentioned.
However, I am wondering why this amendment was rejected when it could mean preserving heirloom varieties by, for example, protecting public research instead of focusing only on research conducted by large companies.