Madam Speaker, this morning, the hon. member mentioned all the amendments proposed to the Constitution in the last 30 years. He spoke of the patriation of the Constitution, the Bélanger-Campeau Commission, etc., but not even once did I hear the hon. members of the Bloc speak of the 1980 referendum. There was a referendum in 1980 on the issue of sovereignty and people-
Sorry. It seems someone did talk about it. Well done! Unfortunately, I was out of the House at the time.
In 1980, Quebec's sovereignty-association with Canada was proposed and the people said no. Now, we are in favour of this type of consultation. We say to the Quebec government: Ask the question! If the answer is yes, go on with the process you have started this week! What is undemocratic and what you refuse to acknowledge is that you have skipped the most important step.
There was an election in Quebec and this issue was raised during the election campaign. As you will remember, your leader corrected Mr. Parizeau on this, during the big meeting held in Joliette. He was speaking of the Parti Quebecois's strategy because nothing was being done. He would not introduce a bill in the National Assembly without holding a referendum first. And now he tables a draft bill in the National Assembly and once this bill has been voted on, there will be a referendum.
No, that cannot be. First, they must get a mandate from the people. They must ask Quebecers if they want to secede or not. Can you honestly answer this question today? Do Quebecers really want to secede or not? Do you have the mandate? That is the question. We do not think you have that mandate.
Ask the question and if the answer is yes in the referendum, you may then initiate-and I use the word on advisedly-the process announced this week by the Quebec government.