Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by saying that, on occasion, I have wished in this House that the Reform Party became the official government of Canada. But over the past few weeks, and especially today, I have changed my mind.
The motion before us today deals with a contract signed on behalf of two corporations by very smart individuals who took months to negotiate and reach an agreement. The case was heard by the Supreme Court of Canada, and the contract declared valid. A contract is a contract.
Reform members are taking advantage of the forthcoming elections in Newfoundland to engage in some Quebec bashing, telling Newfoundlanders that we are bad neighbours.
If you recall, Mr. Parizeau himself, at the last premiers' meeting, when Mr. Wells was still premier of Newfoundland, surprised Mr. Wells with a private offer to renegotiate the issue of a corridor through Quebec should the province become a country in the short term, which at the time was a strong possibility. We are very open to this kind of negotiations.
I would like to remind my colleague that if it were not for Quebec weighing heavily in favour of NAFTA, there would be no NAFTA agreement between Quebec and the U.S., and probably no GATT agreement, since it had a profound impact on the decisions in this respect.
I would like to ask a question of my hon. colleague who raised the issue of contracts; we have a proper contract, by which we will abide. In Canada, there is a basic contract called the Canadian Constitution. In 1982, the Constitution was patriated and Quebec was deliberately excluded from this contract. The terms of the contract were changed without Quebec's assent, against the will of Quebec's national assembly, even though Quebec used to be party to the contract. In Quebec, no premier, no political party-forget about sovereignists and let us look at federalists in Quebec-no federalist, the allies of our friends opposite, agreed to sign. We were excluded from this contract. Does my colleague find this normal?