Mr. Speaker, I will say to the Bloc that the Conservatives are here to represent all Canadians and all Quebeckers, including Quebeckers who that party will not represent, such as Muslim or Sikh Quebeckers who are concerned with restrictions on their ability to practise their faith, and people from other communities.
The Conservatives believe in a pluralism that respects diversity and lets people have different perspectives and participate in the public square together. I completely reject the insinuation of his question that people who practise a faith somehow should be excluded from public conversation, that only those who do not have a faith perspective are the ones who are allowed to participate in the public square.
Let me respond to the first part of his question, which I think was in some ways more reasonable. He said we are talking about two completely different things, conversations and conversion therapy. I agree they are two different things, but the problem is the definition, as written, brings private conversations that people might have about issues of sexuality into the definition of “conversion therapy”. The member is right that we should not really be talking about private conversations in the context of this debate, except there is a flawed definition that brings those things in, so we need to fix the definition.