Mr. Speaker, I want to come back to a theme the member touched on earlier, the theme of anniversaries. This is the 30th anniversary of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
One of the things our government has been practising, which I think he would admit in fairness, as a former minister of justice, his government did not do, is our Minister of Justice, since becoming the minister, has been tabling with every justice bill a statement of the bill's potential effects on the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This bill would codify it. It would formalize it. It would require, going forward, any government to provide that statement so we could get a better sense as Canadians, as legislators, to what extent the bill would or would not be at variance with the charter rights, which are guaranteed and have evolved through our court system.
Could he take a minute to explain what his party's position is with respect to this? In the past, the Conservative Party's position was not to do so. I remember asking the member, the former minister of justice, on repeated occasions why he would not give Canadians assurances that when justice matters came forward to the floor of the House, they would in fact be in compliance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.