That doesn't sound right...but maybe that's the plan

The government has a new policy for treaties. In their words:

"Under the new process, members of the House of Commons may review and discuss the treaty—examining, debating or voting—before Canada formally agrees to ratify it."

Watch the fourth video on this page (Copyright Q&A Clip #2). Jim Prentice is answering some questions about his copyright bill.

Jim says the process of ratifying an international treaty would now have 3 parts:

1. Canada signs the treaties (same as usual).
   
2. Canada brings its laws into conformity with the treaty (same as usual).
   
3. MPs, given the policy mentioned above, debate the treaty before the House of Commons in order to decide whether or not they even want to ratify the treaty in the first place (new).
   

So they've taken a half decent idea and put it in the wrong place in the process. At step (3), the domestic laws have already been changed. Rejecting the treaty would mean having to go back before the House, revert the laws, and pull out of the treaty.

I sincerely hope that Jim misspoke. Otherwise...wow. I hope they didn't stay up all night thinking up this new policy.

Update: Michael Geist has also picked up on this deliberate misinterpretation of the government's new policy of treaty ratification by Jim Prentice.