Mr. Speaker, economist Bill Robson of the C.D. Howe Institute stated yesterday that a sovereign Quebec could keep the Canadian dollar. He also said that when a country renounces its own currency it accepts having others make its decisions for it.
His position is therefore in the same vein as that of the Prime Minister of Canada who stated on December 9 1994 that "there is nothing to stop a sovereign Quebec from using the Canadian dollar if it so chooses". The Prime Minister went on to say "-but it will have to pay the price and will no have no more say in setting monetary policies". What cynicism.
First of all, it is good to see that Mr. Robson and the Prime Minister have understood Canada could not prevent a sovereign Quebec from using the Canadian dollar. However, what both choose to ignore is that Quebec has no say at the present time in the conduct of monetary policy. If they listened to the Finance Minister of Canada, they would also understand that Canada's huge debt does not leave it much leeway at all in its own monetary policy.