Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to see a vote on this bill. If Bloc members are really convinced that my bill should not be passed, they should have the courage to rise in the House and vote before the public, before the voters, to indicate how they want to deal with this bill. They should tell their constituents that they do not stand behind the fact that a member should protect the rights and freedoms of his constituents.
The hon. member for Bellechasse told us that he took an oath of allegiance to the Queen, not to Canada or the Constitution. He went on to say that the case of the monarchy will be settled according to the position of the sovereignists. The hon. member for Bellechasse said a lot when he said that I rose in the House to challenge the monarchy through the back door. I am sure the hon. member for Bellechasse was not listening to my speech.
I would like to send him a copy of my speech so he will realize I said that in addition to the oath of allegiance to the Queen we also took an oath of allegiance to our constituents regarding their rights and freedoms.
I want to ask the hon. member for Bellechasse and the other members of the Bloc Quebecois whether they are going against what was said by their own leader, Lucien Bouchard. When asked whether he took an oath of allegiance to the Queen as a person,Mr. Bouchard answered that he took an oath of allegiance to the community. What community was he talking about, since he had been elected to the Parliament of Canada, not to the Parliament of Quebec where he is now?
The hon. member for Bellechasse noted that my bill would require an amendment to the Constitution. I have great respect for his legal background, but I may point out that we are talking about an act of Parliament, not about the Constitution.
I wonder whether he would take an oath that he would defend the rights and freedoms of his constituents. That is the basis for my bill. He said that someday Quebec will be sovereign, which I very much doubt. I am convinced that Quebec will never separate from Canada.
During the last referendum, his colleagues in the Parti Quebecois as well as sovereignists and separatists in Quebec mentioned keeping the Canadian passport and the Canadian dollar. If they want to keep the Canadian passport, why do they not want to pledge
allegiance to Canada? What does the Canadian passport mean? They want to keep the Canadian dollar. Do they want to keep it so they can have the portrait of the Queen on their bills or the faces of various Conservative or Liberal Prime Ministers? I wonder.
And what an ambiguous question they asked in the October 1995 referendum. Quebecers did not realize it really meant they wanted to separate from Canada. That is the whole point today, and that is why the Bloc Quebecois obstructed my bill.
In conclusion, I would like to say to the member for Bellechasse and to all his colleagues in the Bloc Quebecois that when members of the Quebec National Assembly are elected, they swear an oath to the Constitution and to Quebec, to the Constitution of Quebec, and to Quebecers.
We are here in the Parliament of Canada, where all members, regardless of their political affiliation, may offer criticism whenever they wish in order to improve the lot of all Canadians and to improve the Constitution and our laws.
Why, when they are elected in Quebec, do they swear an oath to the Province of Quebec and to the citizens of the Province of Quebec, but when they are elected to the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa, they refuse to swear an oath to the Constitution and to Canada? That is the question, and it is still the key point in my bill.
My bill requires that a member respect his constituents, regardless of their political affiliation, their race, their language or their religious beliefs. We are here to protect the rights and freedoms of those who elected us.
If a member refuses to do that, what does that suggest about him as an MP? It suggests that he does not wish to respect the two principles I have mentioned, and I accuse Bloc Quebecois members of betraying their own constituents.