Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to advise the House that as of now, the official opposition will be splitting its time into ten-minute, rather than twenty-minute periods.
I would like to begin my presentation by recounting an anecdote which, to my mind, clearly reflects Quebecers' feelings about the Senate, because it is a fact that virtually the entire population favours and indeed has long been advocating the abolition of the Senate.
This anecdote involves the one-time Quebec legislative council which my colleague from Frontenac referred to moments ago and which was abolished in the late 1960s. However, while the council still existed, more specifically during the 1950s, Maurice Duplessis who was then premier appointed Mr. Patrice Tardif, a member of the legislative council, to the Senate.