Mr. Speaker, first of all, the Government of Canada was named as a third party by Mr. Bertrand in his civil suit, so we are involved in the legal proceedings.
The hon. member speaks of improvisation. What the House of Commons and the Canadian people are seeing is follow through. The government said in the throne speech in February that if there is to be another referendum the consequences will be clear and all Canadians will have a say. We are acting on that commitment. This is follow through on that commitment.
If we do decide to intervene in the case it is because we are responding to a proposition which is wrong in principle and wrong in law because it is impossible to say the Constitution and the courts have no relevance to the process by which some would see Quebec accede to sovereignty.