Mr. Speaker, I would have a question for my hon. colleague, who is no doubt a democrat. I know him personally. I would like to react to a statement made by the hon. member just a moment ago, and by the Speaker before him, to the effect that this House is living through its most important moments.
There is a fundamental reason for the Speaker to tell us that; it is because we are dealing with the very foundation of democracy here. We are, of course, elected members of this House, and the only thing that legitimizes our discussing this matter here today is the fact that we were elected.
We are elected members, and the majority of us were elected on a very clear platform of jobs, jobs, jobs, elimination of the GST, renewal of federalism or of the system under which we live, while our platform, a remarkably clear platform, was to look after the interests of Quebec and promote the sovereignty of Quebec.
You will recall that we were elected in an election in which Bloc candidates ran against Liberal and Conservative candidates. The people of Quebec voted to send 54 members to Ottawa to promote this option. I am a 100 per cent behind my hon. colleague for Richelieu, who described events that took place in his riding as well.
I would like to ask a question to the hon. member who spoke before me. He claimed to understand what is going on here, and he is still willing to refer the issue to a committee and have my colleague from Charlesbourg be judged by that committee.
Does the hon. member understand what that means? Does he understand that a committee will pass judgement on an elected member because he stood for what he was elected on? By doing that, Quebec as a whole would be sent to be judged by a committee.