Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C-230 today, put forward by my colleague from Okanagan-Shuswap.
As I sat here listening to these last two Liberal speakers I got the distinct feeling that these two hon. members must have been living in a complete vacuum over the last three years. This separatist group here has been standing in this House every day since the 35th Parliament started, saying: "We want to secede from Canada. We want to separate from Canada". I wonder if these hon. members have been hearing that.
This is why we got into so much trouble in the referendum in Quebec. This government appears now, after listening to the member for Simcoe North and the member for Ottawa-Vanier, to prefer to just carry on the with status quo. Let us just try and keep doing what we have been doing.
That is what almost lost us the referendum in October 1995. This government, these Liberals, would not face up to the fact that these separatists and the Quebecers they duped into following their line want to separate from Canada.
What does it take to get the message across? I do not want that province to leave Canada. That province belongs as much to British Columbians, Nova Scotians, Albertans, Ontarians and Saskatchewanians as it belongs to Quebecers. It part of Canada, even though only one part.
This Liberal government, the member for Simcoe North, says that we want to proceed with positive and constructive measures. That is Liberal talk for we want to have more appeasement and more accommodation for the province of Quebec.
I cannot believe the member for Ottawa-Vanier said the Reform Party talks about a hypothetical scenario of secession. The Bloc and the Parti Quebecois in the province of Quebec just went through a referendum in 1995 to determine whether the people wanted to separate. There is nothing hypothetical about that. What is the member for Ottawa-Vanier thinking about? He says it is absolutely important that we ensure that all cards are on the table.
We stood in this House day after day leading up to the referendum in 1995 and told the Prime Minister and this Liberal government, whose members were sitting on their hands: "For goodness' sake, put the cards on the table for people who are thinking about leaving Quebec by voting yes. Put the cards on the table".
There were no cards on the table. We came that far from a yes vote because this Liberal government did not have the backbone then to put the cards on the table. It obviously does not have it now to put the cards on the table.
The member for Ottawa-Vanier made another incredulous statement that the Reform Party would like to exploit the differences between Canadians. What an incredible statement.
There has been no political party in the history of Canada that has done more to foster the differences between Canadians than the Liberal Party of Canada in any Parliament at any time of our history since 1867.
Continually, day after day, year after year, the Liberal government, whatever it was of whatever year, has done more to foster the differences between Canadians than to bring Canadians together as one people.
That is on record a million times. How can the member for Ottawa-Vanier talk about the Reform Party's wanting to exploit the differences when this party has built its political career by fostering the differences between Canadians? What an incredible statement.
The reason the member for Okanagan-Shuswap put forth Bill C-230 was that this government does not have the guts to deal with these separatists on a face to face basis. It would rather beat around the bush and try to smooth things over.
We are talking about a group of Quebecers-thank God not all Quebecers, a majority want to stay in Canada-who have been duped by a small group of politicians into believing that there is some nirvana out there if they should leave Canada, a nirvana called Quebec nationhood.
I say thank goodness the referendum failed in 1995. Unless this Liberal government gets its act together, it may not win the next referendum the separatists hold. If it continues on a path of do nothing, say nothing and hope the problem will go away, its members are going to lose.
Now we get down to the issue of Bill C-230. I say that Quebec is part of Canada and always has been. Since we became the country of Canada, Quebec has been a part of it. It has enjoyed the benefits of Canada as Canada has enjoyed the benefits of the province of Quebec. We have a country here. We have a nation.
But some people in Quebec have decided that somehow they will be better off if they leave this great country of ours. Somehow they have managed to convince a number of people in the province of Quebec that this would be a good thing to do.
In 1995 in the last referendum, did they talk about separation leading up to the actual voting day? No. They talked about some fuzzy sovereignty association. The Liberal government would hardly even mention the word separation in this House unless we dragged it out of them.
This separatist group that wants to break up this country did not have the courage to put a simple question to the people of Quebec: Do you want to separate from Canada, yes or no? It referred to some bill that had been passed in the Quebec legislature that dealt with some sort of fuzzy sovereignty association, negotiating some arrangement with Canada.
The separatists say they want to separate but they did not have the guts to go to the people of Quebec and ask them if they wanted to leave Canada, period. That is what the question should have been. If that had been the question that was put, the no vote would not have squeaked by like it did. The no side would have won by a huge majority because the people would have clearly understood the question. It would not have been some convoluted question that the separatists came up with, but it would have been a clear question.
The Reformers stood here and talked to the Prime Minister. We said: "Why do you not tell the people of Quebec what they are voting for? Why do you allow the separatists to put this convoluted question before them? Why is the Liberal government not saying something about it? Why are you not clarifying it?" Why did they not put all the cards on the table like the member for Ottawa-Vanier was talking about? That is what we demanded of the Liberal Party. In response the Liberals said: "You Reformers keep out of it. We know how to handle it".
We saw how the Liberal government handled it. It just about lost it. We came close to losing the vote in Quebec because of the Liberal government's inaction. The Liberal government did not have the courage to deal with these separatists head on.
The majority of the people of Quebec do not want to separate from Canada. We cannot believe what this separatist group has been telling us. We cannot believe what Mr. Bouchard in Quebec is saying. We cannot believe that.
The people of Quebec are Canadians who happen to live in the province of Quebec. I would say that if the Canadians who live in the province of Quebec had a clear question put to them: yes or no, do you want to separate from Canada, it would be an overwhelming no. That is what we are demanding in Bill C-230: that this Liberal government have the backbone, the courage to talk about the real question and not to let people get suckered in by these separatists here.