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Multiculturalism
Economic self-sufficiency has increased (Maori) cultural prideBy Dr. Barry Cooper - University of Calgary (Used with permission from Dr. Cooper. This editorial appeared in Calgary Herald, Wednesday, April 30, 2008) Former prime minister Paul Martin testified earlier this month before a Senate committee in support of Bill C-292, the Kelowna Accord Implementation Act. This private member's bill gained approval of the House of Commons with the support of the three opposition parties and should pass through the mainly Liberal upper house easily enough.Martin knows that for the past three centuries in parliamentary democracies, private-member's bills cannot commit the government to spend money. As the Speaker, Peter Milliken, put it, there is a distinction between bills that approve certain objectives and bills that approve the ways and means, namely money, by which the approved objectives are obtained. Thus Martin is asking the Senate and the rest of us to look at C-292 on its merits, knowing full well the implementation costs -- on the order of $5 billion -- are irrelevant.