Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak to Bill C-110. As we all know, the bill was designed to give a veto to the province of Quebec over the Canadian Constitution.
We thought at one time that we had dealt with the issue during Meech Lake and the Charlottetown accords when we gave all Canadians a say in the matter. Lo and behold Canadians said: "No, we don't accept what politicians have done. We are staying with the way it is". Here we are today after a referendum and the Liberals are right back at it again, on the top down approach.
The bill also gives a veto to B.C., the prairies, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. B.C. was not included originally. Six B.C. Liberals would like to say they had some influence on the acknowledgement of British Columbia as a separate region, so to speak, because of its position in the federation. They would like to take credit for that, but the fact is we are back to the way it has always been. They do what they are told over there. They had little or no influence. The party said "you will" and they did. They did nothing.
It was the outrage of people in British Columbia and across the country who said: "What are you doing with four regions as opposed to five?" The government changed its mind. The problem is that they are still talking about the governments of the regions and not the people of the regions. I do not believe that will ever get through to the government, ever, until the government is replaced by a populist party and not a party that works from the top down.
Let us make no mistake. This is once again an act of appeasement to separatists in Quebec. Over the years we have been giving the country away piece by piece. Every time the separatists squawk this government and the government before it overreact.
Let us look at why we are in this mess in the first place. Over all these years we have had some issues to deal with such as the finances of the country. The Liberal targets at best are weak. Their economic fiscal management, as well as that of the previous government, is a disgrace.
At least the province of Quebec is open enough to say: "Look, if you can't get your act in gear we are going to leave". Other people are saying: "If you can't get your act together, we are going to stay and try to fight it".
Let us look at the battle against crime. The Liberal government still does not understand how bad it is out there. It is still doing a messy, pathetic job at fighting crime in the country. We have one separatist province saying: "We don't like the way you are doing that either, so we want out". Whose fault is it that we have this spoiled child of separatism sitting here? It is the governments that have done very little to help the country since the current Prime Minister was finance minister.
Today the government still appoints its friends and hacks to the Senate. It is still ripping off Canadians with an MP's pension. It voted out recall. All these issues are part of the problem in the country today. They are rubbing everybody the wrong way, from the east coast to the west coast.
What did the Liberals come up with? They came up with a veto power in the Constitution. They said that it was the best a Liberal majority government could do in the country. That is very sad indeed.
When the Bloc appeared for the first time in the last election in 1993, what happened? How did the Liberal government deal with it? First it agreed to official opposition status. That was the first mistake. It has been dealing with that problem since we have been here. It is not dealing with all the problems across the country. It is only dealing in self-interest.
The referendum came along. We saw a Liberal government with no vision. Its members were stumbling and bumbling through a referendum until in the dying days when it looked like they were going to lose it and they threw out a few carrots. That is a heck of a way to run a country. Now we see the government shelling out veto powers, not to the people but to the governments of the provinces within those regions.
Why do we give vetoes in any event? To my knowledge no democratic country in the world provides vetoes on constitutional issues to a body, particularly to a provincial body that just happens to be a separatist government.
What exactly does the government think it will achieve by doing that? It has not thought about it. It is another knee-jerk reaction to a group of separatists in the House.
Coming from British Columbia, having lived there, with my riding being there, I can see the time is coming when British Columbia needs a very forceful government.
We in the House had better understand why that will be necessary. It seems the only way we can improve a federation is to threaten these guys. That seems to be the game. The separatists show up and give a little more. The separatists speak out and the government gives a little more, piece by piece. They are never happy. What happened last night when distinct society came up in a motion to vote on? They voted against it. That is because they have not been given enough. When they are given enough, it will very likely be too late.