Mr. Chair, esteemed colleagues, Minister, I'm happy to be joining you on this beautiful July day.
Mr. Chair, the minister made some statements earlier that we feel are questionable.
She said that a referendum is an “incomplete picture”.
In other words, a referendum would not provide an overall picture of the situation.
Through the exercise we are asked to do in our ridings, we will reach 50,000 or 60,000 Canadians, at best. That's a lot of people and it has never been seen before. That said, will those 50,000 or 60,000 Canadians help us paint a comprehensive portrait? Wouldn't the 17,559,353 individuals who voted in the last election rather be able to really help us get an overall picture? For us, it is clear that a referendum, and not consultations such as the ones we will hold, would help paint an overall picture.
The minister is talking about conversations in various jurisdictions. Steps have already been taken in a number of provinces, so she is quite right. I am from Quebec, and I know what I am talking about. Any time a province wanted to make changes, it used the referendum to do so, whether we are talking about British Columbia, Ontario or Prince Edward Island. This brought one of the current government's senior ministers, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, to say the following:
Precedent makes holding a referendum necessary in Canada: changing the voting system would require popular support.
This was said by Stéphane Dion, one of your government's senior ministers.
The minister concluded with the following:
it's what Canadians said to us in the last campaign.
Really? Canadians told her that?
Maybe she should talk to her colleague from Hamilton-East—Stoney Creek, who said the following:
It's not something I've heard anything about on the campaign trail.... I don't recall one conversation at the door that had to do with that.
The same thing is happening in Quebec City as in Hamilton. No one has talked to me about that either. Coincidentally, I am going to Hamilton on vacation next week. I am sure that people will be as friendly there as they are in Quebec City.
We did not hear about this during the election campaign. The Liberal Party's election platform, which you are familiar with, Mr. Chair, contained 96 pages, but it had only three sentences about the electoral reform. And you are saying that it was an important issue? Come on!
My question for the minister is very simple; it's a referendum question. If there are changes, are you prepared to hold a referendum, yes or no?