Mr. Speaker, on March 31, 1993, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois declared in La Presse that all those who live in Quebec are Quebecers.
The fine words of the leader of the official opposition do not seem to have been heard by his peers, since, in recent weeks, racist remarks by Quebec separatists have been on the increase.
This weekend, Pierre Bourgault accused anglophones in Quebec of wanting to exercise a blatantly racist vote, while the Bloc Quebecois member for Louis-Hébert wanted ethnocultural communities to withdraw from the referendum debate and let old stock Quebecers decide the province's future.
These statements are unacceptable in a democratic society such as ours, and we invite all Quebecers to refuse to participate in a sovereignty debate that is based on intolerance and racism.