Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I also wish to welcome Mr. Juneau, a former citizen of Cap-Rouge, and it is with pleasure that I do so.
I meant to ask him questions that are somewhat in line with those of Ms. Lavallée. I find this all concerning.
Cancelling the event was the right decision, but I think it was made for the wrong reason. It had to be cancelled because celebrating the conquest was a very bad idea from the outset.
I had the opportunity to speak about this issue on a number of television shows in English Canada. I remember when I was with Tom Clark from CTV, who introduced the issue as follows:
“When Wolfe defeated Montcalm”, “The victory of Wolfe over Montcalm”.
Immediately after, he interviewed Mr. De Waele, a professor from Laval University, who said:
“That was the conquest.”
He then turned to me and said: "What do you think?" I replied: "You have your answer." For some it was "the victory"; for others, it was "the conquest".
When I was a student I did some research into how the Battle of the Plains of Abraham was depicted in the school books of anglophone and francophone high schools in Quebec. It was no surprise to see that the versions were somewhat different. I specifically looked at how the books described the English scaling the cliffs. In the English version, they were often described as being cunning. It was often the Scots, who were familiar with French, who had succeeded in tricking the sentries. The French version referred rather—and this is one of my favourite versions—to a traitor, probably a Swiss, who had sold out, and so on. It all depends on the point of view.
The 250th anniversary of this event could have been calmly discussed in a university setting. I do not want to attack you personally, you are a person of experience, but quite seriously, I do not understand that choice.
I'll remind you of another ridiculous government decision a few years ago. You are probably familiar with Grosse-Île, which is just downstream from Quebec City, after the Île d'Orléans. This was a very important place for the Irish community in Quebec and Quebec City. During the famines, several families lost their kin on that island. Families were prevented from going there because of the significant losses due to health reasons. The federal gnomes decided to make a theme park rather than something a little more sober and respectful. This caused an outcry within the Irish community. Sometimes all you need to do is speak to a few Quebeckers from the outside in order to understand that some of the decisions that are made here are completely disconnected from the people in those communities.
You come from Quebec City, more specifically Cap-Rouge, which is today part of Quebec City.