Mr. Speaker, I want to denounce the behaviour of the Council for Canadian Unity, an organization generously funded by the federal government, which is bent on systematically keeping a record of the witnesses who speak before the regional commissions on sovereignty. We do not know what exactly the council hopes this kind of tactic will achieve, but we note that those who defend Canadian unity continue to be obsessed with compiling lists of sovereignists.
This practice is utterly reprehensible in a democratic society and is all the more unsettling, since it is being used when democracy is being expressed at its purest, during prereferendum consultations.
No democratic society can stand for the use of intimidation tactics to erode the right of its citizens to freedom of speech. These tactics are worthy of Big Brother and have no place in Quebec and Canada.