There are so many questions here, I don't know where to start. I'll simply go back to what I think is the core question of how Quebec is best represented in the Senate.
My view is that Quebec is certainly better represented in a Senate where Quebeckers get to have a say in who represents them. There's every possibility of a government, of a Prime Minister, in this country, having a minority status position, and for example, not representing a single seat in the province of Quebec, yet that Prime Minister being the person who decides, under the current rules, who will represent Quebeckers. I think that situation is one that can cause a lot more tension in the country than an alternative situation where the people of Quebec are asked who they would like to see representing them in the Senate.
I think the opportunity of a people of a province having their own say is a far superior approach than maintaining a system that's unaccountable, where they are denied a say, or frankly, right now, where the province is denied the say. Under the current law, a province doesn't get to appoint its representatives in the Senate. There is no provincial power being protected by keeping that authority solely in the hands of a Prime Minister and not having the opportunity to ask the people of that province who should represent them.
I don't see any derogation of the powers of the province. There is no effort to limit or alter this level of representation in the Senate. Instead of asking someone who, say, might be a Prime Minister from Manitoba who should be representing Quebec, we ask the people of Quebec who should be representing Quebec.