Mr. Speaker, the kind of debate we are having today should not give rise to acrimonious exchanges between the member and ourselves. All I want to say is this: How can they take advantage of such a debate to try to make the premier of Quebec bear the federal government's responsibility which it shares with the city of Montreal?
The member should take advantage of this debate to remind his party that the motion brought forward by the Bloc Quebecois is a tribute to the Armenian people and bears witness to our respect and friendship, as I said earlier. This motion must not be amended. It must not be weakened.
He who is of Armenian origin should convince his party that we cannot accept a diluted and watered down motion. We would like to have his support and the support of the government to pass this resolution as it stands, without being afraid of bearing witness to the Armenian genocide, not the Armenian tragedy.
When you know the rules of the House, you are fully aware that soon we will be asked to vote on a sub-amendment moved by the Reform Party referring to the tragedy of the Armenian genocide, and we know that the government will vote against it. We are expecting it.
We are also aware that we will be asked to vote on a motion brought forward by the government, which mentions the Armenian tragedy instead of the Armenian genocide. There is a slight difference. We would like for everyone, including the member, to make sure the motion brought forward by the member for Ahuntsic is not weakened. For us it is absolutely essential that the House clearly pay tribute and homage to the Armenian people, recognizing that Armenians were indeed the victims of a genocide.