Mr. Speaker, before oral question period, I was saying that the communiqué released by the hon. member for Charlesbourg was very appropriate, since it points out a number of values that we share with our fellow Canadians, such as the will to take part in peacekeeping missions, to continue to be a member of NATO, to comply with the requirement of democracy, and to respect civil liberties and human rights.
There is nothing wrong with that. The communiqué released by the hon. member for Charlesbourg simply says:
The day after a yes win-
We have to be careful here. "The day after a yes win" does not mean the very next morning; what it really means is "following a yes win", Quebec would offer:
all Quebecers serving in the Canadian Forces the chance to integrate into the Quebec forces-
As I said, this can certainly not be interpreted as a call for desertion, rebellion or revolt. On the contrary, this communiqué merely sets the record straight regarding the defence policy of a sovereign Quebec.
The military do not live on another planet. They, like the rest of Quebecers, were around during the referendum campaign. Just like a number of federal public servants, they wondered about their future, if Quebec became a sovereign state.
The purpose of the communiqué released by the hon. member for Charlesbourg was simply to ease the legitimate concerns and fears of Quebecers serving in the Canadian Armed Forces.
I also want to point out that the communiqué reads: "-offer all Quebecers serving in the Canadian Forces". It does not refer to "French speaking Quebecers serving in the Canadian Forces", as claimed in the insidious Reform Party motion. The communiqué alludes to all Quebecers serving in the Canadian Forces.
What brings Quebecers to join the Canadian Armed Forces? Some do it for adventure and travel. Others do it out of a deep sense of duty, because they are convinced that, some day, they may have to defend and protect our freedom, our democratic values, but also their property, their close friends, their families.
Where do you think is home for these Quebecers who decide to join the Canadian Armed Forces? Where do their close friends and family live? In Quebec, Mr. Speaker.
But in our current constitutional system, how can we defend our assets, our close friends and our families who live in Quebec? How can we defend Quebec, if not by joining the Canadian Armed Forces?
Those who join the Canadian Armed Forces in order to be able to indirectly defend Quebec are not being disloyal towards Canada for all that. For them, being for Quebec does not necessarily mean being against Canada.
I for one was an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces and I can tell you that I was honourably released from my commmission as lieutenant in the navy when I was elected. I did not quit the armed forces on principle or because I believed that I had to quit since I had been elected to the House of Commons as a member of the Bloc Quebecois. I quit because I felt I would no longer have the time to carry out my duties within the Canadian Armed Forces.
However, I was able to see that, within the Canadian Armed Forces, we have a sort of microcosm, a scaled-down version of Quebec society. There are as many sovereignists in the Canadian Armed Forces as there are federalists. And that is no reason to think that members of the Canadian Armed Forces who are sovereignists are therefore disloyal, or opposed to Canada, or that, as our Reform Party colleagues would have us believe, they might want to take up the arms provided to them by the Canadian Armed Forces and turn against Canada. That is utterly ridiculous.
It is no secret to anyone that francophones in the Canadian Armed Forces have too often been downtrodden and discriminated against. Even today, we still hear older Canadians claiming that francophones did not want to fight in the second world war. Despite the betrayal in 1942 by the federal government, which, having promised not to do so, imposed conscription through a referendum, again leaving Quebec isolated from the rest of Canada, despite this betrayal, many Quebecers joined the Canadian forces of the time, the army, the navy and the air force, and fought in all theatres of operation.
There were Quebecers in Hong Kong at the time of the terrible assault by the Japanese and some of them spent the rest of the war in internment camps.
Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal were on the beaches at Dieppe. They were mowed down during the terrible assault in which the British, it was said, were ready to fight to the last drop of Canadian blood. Le Régiment de Maisonneuve was on the beaches of Normandy at the time of the landing. The 22nd regiment fought in the bloody battle of Monte Cassino, in Italy.
Quebecers proved their loyalty to Canada as part of the Canadian forces. They have proven their loyalty all these years. This does not prevent some, many many in fact, from believing that Quebec should become sovereign some day. And, with Quebec's sovereignty, it should come as no surprise that these Quebecers would take the opportunity afforded them to join the Quebec armed forces, without any resentment, disdain or negative feelings toward Canada. There is nothing surprising in that.
Our friends in the Reform Party wanted to create a tempest in a teapot with this debate, which is totally unnecessary and inappropriate. As I pointed out at the start of the debate, they used, they appropriated the rules of the House of Commons to successfully divert the regular debates of this House in an effort to put the Bloc Quebecois and my colleague for Charlesbourg on trial.
Once the members of the government have become the accomplices of the Reformers, when the vote comes up, the matter will probably be referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. There, God knows the treatment that will be given this ordinary communiqué by my colleague for Charlesbourg, which was simply to explain to our fellow Quebecers in the Canadian armed forces what the sovereignists had in mind on the subject of national defence and the possibility of their joining the ranks of the Canadian forces, in the event of sovereignty.
What treatment awaits this communiqué? No rule has been established in this debate on its treatment. Will our colleague for Charlesbourg be hauled before this committee for some sort of trial? Will this be a remake of the unfortunate Louis Riel episode? Except, of course, for the fact that my colleague from Charlesbourg
cannot be found guilty by the Canadian courts, since-as our colleague, the leader of the Reform Party, admitted-there are no legal grounds for criminal proceedings.
But this committee will become a kind of kangaroo court, before which my colleague from Charlesbourg will probably have to appear to explain his actions and say that he simply wanted, as part of a democratic process, to inform our fellow citizens in the Canadian Forces of what the sovereignists had in mind for them.
This is totally unacceptable in a so-called democratic country like ours. However, when the leader of the Reform Party says that we in this House are defining a new form of sedition, I wonder if our colleague is not being tried for his opinions. In a democratic country like Canada, it is normal for us-in a debate, in a referendum-to tell all Quebecers, including those in the Canadian Forces, about the consequences of a yes win in the referendum.
Our fellow citizens in Quebec needed to know about the possible consequences and benefits of a yes win in the referendum. Our vision is still alive. The very close vote recorded on October 30 makes it very clear that the issue has not been settled yet and that we will eventually have to consult the people of Quebec once again. Mr. Speaker, you can be sure that, once again, we will show all our cards, as the government party is demanding, and that we will explain to all Quebecers, including those in the military, what we have in mind for them.