Discussion · Orders of the Day
Frank Caputo Conservative
“The government broke the rules of the Charter by forcing summer job applicants to say they agreed with certain beliefs. That hurt people's freedom of conscience and religion. I want the member to admit right now that this policy was wrong.”
“Mr. Speaker, I listened with great joy to my colleague. It is always a pleasure. I say it is not what he says, but how loud he says it. The member talked about the Canada summer jobs grant. I am going to give him and the Liberals a very simple lesson in constitutional law. The charter was passed to protect the citizenry from the government, yet the government made people sign an attestation about what they believed. The government was using the Constitution as a sword from citizen to citizen. The government messed up. That was completely unconstitutional. Will the member renounce this unconstitutional policy right here, right now? We all know it was wrong. It offended freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Will he renounce it right now? He is, after all, part of the party that said it is the party of the charter. Let us hear it.”
Mr. Speaker, I listened with great joy to my colleague. It is always a pleasure. I say it is not what he says, but how loud he says it. The member talked about the Canada summer jobs grant. I am going to give him and the Liberals a very simple lesson in constitutional law. The charter was passed to protect the citizenry from the government, yet the government made people sign an attestation about what they believed. The government was using the Constitution as a sword from citizen to citizen. The government messed up. That was completely unconstitutional. Will the member renounce this unconstitutional policy right here, right now? We all know it was wrong. It offended freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Will he renounce it right now? He is, after all, part of the party that said it is the party of the charter. Let us hear it.