Madam Speaker, Bill C-230 introduced by the member for Okanagan-Shuswap is entitled An Act to provide for a national referendum to authorize the government to negotiate terms of separation with a province that has voted for separation from Canada. It proposes rules which would apply to a referendum on the separation of a province from the rest of Canada.
In spite of its neutral wording, it is obvious that this bill primarily seeks to impose on the province of Quebec rules for its next referendum on sovereignty.
What the member for Okanagan-Shuswap proposes is strangely similar to the secession act passed in 1990 by the Soviet regime, in the former USSR. I will remind the member of certain facts regarding the passing of this act. Unlike Canada's constitution, the constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic included a clause granting republics the right to freely separate from the USSR, without any procedures or conditions.
At the beginning of the nineties, following the crumbling of the Gorbachev regime and of the Berlin wall, some sovereignist parties took office in certain republics. Given this situation, president Gorbachev quickly had the Soviet government pass an act on secession.
The act, which was passed in April 1990, set the conditions for separation. In fact, it sought to make it impossible to exercise this right by the means proposed in Bill C-230. For example, the Soviet legislation defined the referendum procedure to be used by the republics, including the type of initiative allowed, the voting procedure and the number of ballots required for the decision to be valid.
The bill proposed by the member for Okanagan-Shuswap gives the House of Commons and the Senate the right to rule on the eligibility of the question and its wording, should the yes side win.
Indeed, should the yes side win, the Senate and the House of Commons will determine whether the question that was put was a simple and direct question; whether an affirmative vote was cast by a majority of at least fifty per cent plus one; whether the referendum was held in compliance with the laws of the separating province and whether its results were recorded on the basis of the electoral districts of the province; whether notice of the referendum appeared in the Canada Gazette and in at least one major newspaper in each riding of the province which, of course, means Quebec; whether the effect of a vote in favour of separation was clearly stated on the ballot including: the fact that the province will become a separate state, foreign to Canada; that it will cease to be a province of Canada; that it will cease to have representation in the Senate and House of Commons; that its residents will lose the right to be citizens of Canada; that they will lose the right to hold a Canadian passport; and, finally, that they will lose the right to unrestricted entry to and travel within Canada, and the unrestricted right to work in Canada.
By granting the House of Commons and the Senate the right to review the holding of a referendum, the bill proposed by the member for Okanagan-Shuswap gives the two houses a veto over a province seeking to achieve sovereignty. Indeed, this bill provides that the conditions I just listed can only be met if the House of Commons and the Senate render a favourable decision.
In the current context, it would be surprising, to say the least, to expect members of this House and the other place to make an objective decision. In addition, the bill gives the House of Commons and the Senate the authority to refer to the Supreme Court any question relating to the holding of a separation referendum.
In point of fact, this bill allows the process whereby a province wishes to become independent to be defined by the courts. Should the will of a people to decide on its own destiny be relegated to questions of a legal nature?
The referral to the Supreme Court must please the Minister of Justice, since he confirmed only today that he intends to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court by submitting to it, by way of a constitutional reference, the question of the legality of Quebec's sovereignty. In fact, any legal strategy intended to thwart the will of a people must be eclipsed by the freedom of that people to democratically decide on its political future.
Nonetheless, once the Senate and the House of Commons have determined that the sovereignty referendum is valid, the Governor
in Council shall hold a Canada-wide referendum that is binding on the Government of Canada within one year.
The question in this Canada-wide referendum will be whether or not the people of Canada authorize the federal government to negotiate the terms of separation of the province wishing to secede. The legislation on secession passed by the Supreme Soviet of the former USSR that I mentioned a little earlier provided for the same consultation mechanism.
In the event that a republic voted in favour of sovereignty, this legislation required the results to be submitted to all the other republics in the Union. Like Bill C-230, the Soviet legislation on secession also made provision for the right of partition of certain groups within the Republic. These groups were literally given the right to secede from another group that was seceding.
The right to self-determination is an attribute of peoples and of nations. Quebec being a nation within the Canadian federation, it follows that, should it become sovereign, its borders would be guaranteed against any challenge by Canada, the corollary of this right to independence being the respect of the territory associated with this people or this nation.
It is illogical to say that a riding within the province could take advantage of that right, just as francophone populations outside Quebec could not demand to be linked back to Quebec.
Finally, we all know what happened to president Gorbachev's plan; the independentist republics simply ignored it. Let us be straight with ourselves, however: Canada cannot be compared to the former USSR of 1990. The mere fact that Bill C-230 is oddly inspired by such an authoritarian model does, however, give one pause, even though this trend is not a great surprise to anyone.
The Bloc Quebecois has always defended the principle of sovereignty of the provinces and their respective legislatures on their own territory. Provincial governments, being the elected representatives of the population, have the authority to achieve sovereignty, provided they receive a democratic mandate from their population to do so.
As I said a while ago, this bill is aimed primarily at Quebec. Should there be another referendum in Quebec, the bill is aimed at not only submitting the provincial government to the authority of the federal government, but also at preventing Quebec from exercising its right to sovereignty. The Bloc Quebecois has always been opposed to any move by the federal government to hamstring the Government of Quebec by dictating the conditions for access to sovereignty.