Mr. Speaker, these two basic principles are connected and each of them is very important in its own right. It is very important first to determine what the people of Quebec want and it is also very important to have a framework within which to operate.
Without a legal framework, one has chaos. The position apparently taken by the Attorney General of Quebec, a surprising position, is that he is going to have a referendum which is consultative. The very next day, if he gets the results that he wants, that is the end of the matter. The country is finished and the province is separate.
That is not the way things are done in Canada. True to say, the will and the decision of the population of Quebec is important. It must be seen in the context of a legal framework, because that is the way we do things in this country, in accordance with the rule of law.