Madam Speaker, allow me to congratulate you on your new duties.
We are on the verge of a truly historic experience. I want to thank all the parties in this House that will join with the Quebec National Assembly to permit, and this is the core of the issue, the implementation of a resolution passed by the only francophone parliament, the only one controlled by a majority of Quebeckers, the National Assembly, of course.
I would first like to give three warnings. The resolution that will create the joint committee does not concern Quebec's language rights. The debate concerns obviously Quebec's ability to withdraw from the effect of section 93, especially subsections 1 to 4.
We would be hard pressed to find reference to Quebec's language rights. If we want to consider language rights, we would have to consult section 173 of the Charte de la langue française and of course the Charte québécoise des droits de la personne.
In our minds the matter involves—and I see that the Privy Council agreed—a bilateral amendment. I hope the Reform Party will understand that the five options offered by the Constitution Act, 1982 are clearly worded so that we can make no mistake as parliamentarians that we are right to put Quebec's resolution into effect according to the bilateral amending formula.
Perhaps the leader of the Reform Party does not fully grasp what one may call the consensus in Quebec. As for linguistic school boards, because that is what this is all about, the resolution says that religious beliefs have no bearing on the way Quebec will be organized or the selection of an administrative or management method. There is therefore no connection between people's religious beliefs and the method of management we will adopt for school boards. This is what dividing school boards by language is all about.
Why has a referendum on this issue not been held in Quebec in the past 15 years? Because of a lack of democracy? Of course not. The reason we have not had a referendum is, first, that the main stakeholders in education, regardless of their sympathies, have expressed exceptionally clear support for dividing school boards by language.
Let me remind the hon. members—as the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs indicated, I think—that, in Quebec, we have had a consensus on this issue since 1982: the Conseil supérieur de l'éducation and the Assemblée des évêques are in favour of the proposed change. When the Assemblée des évêques makes a pronouncement on an issue, it usually does so solemnly. Bishops being at the service of the Lord, they generally give a great deal of thought to any decision they make. They take every necessary precaution.
I can assure the Leader of the Opposition—and I am prepared to table a list of organizations, if he wishes, to help him better understand the reality in Quebec—that every player in the area of education, organizations such as the Alliance des professeurs, the Fédération des cégeps and the Council of Universities, were in favour and still are in favour of dividing school boards by language.
The leader of the official opposition should also know that, since the Parent report was tabled, both sovereignist and federalist governments have attempted on six separate occasions—yes, six occasions—to reform the education system in Quebec. Each of these attempts was blocked by the requirements, the obligations under section 93.
So, what will we do as parliamentarians when, before the holiday season—indeed Christmas is coming, but I am confident and also grateful to the government for its diligence—we pass a motion allowing the National Assembly, therefore the people of Quebec, to modernize, thanks to the existing consensus, its school system, so as to have linguistic school boards? This is the fundamental issue that must be understood.
Does this mean, assuming we proceed, that religious or pastoral teaching will no longer have its place in schools? Of course not, because the Education Act requires us to provide such teaching, and because section 41 of the Quebec charter of rights expressly recognizes such rights.
Therefore, I ask the Leader of the Opposition to make a careful reading of Quebec's reality. For goodness sake, there is no betrayal of democratic principles here. The Leader of the Opposition rose to say that education is sacred. We Quebecers have known that since the Tremblay report. Every Quebec premier has always said that education is sacred, primarily because it has to do with one's identity, culture and training.
The Quebec National Assembly adopted the resollution unanimously. As parliamentarians, we all know how difficult this is to achieve, that unanimity in Parliament seldom occurs. So, let us rejoice at the Quebec National Assembly's unanimous stance on the establishment of linguistic school boards.
The Leader of the Opposition should never forget that six attempts were made to reform Quebec's school system. Again, who, in this House, can claim that, in Quebec or elsewhere—but we speak for Quebec—there is a link between the religious convictions of individuals—which we respect, given their noble character—and school boards? There can be no links between the religious beliefs and convictions of individuals and the way we will, or want to, set up school boards.
We all know that the worst thing that could happen to this Parliament would be for there to be a slippage, a sideways skid, and for there to be an attempt to link this constitutional amendment with the language rights of anglophone minorities, something which, as you know, all hon. members hold dear.
Why this attachment to the anglophone minority? First of all, because the anglophone minority is part of our history. There were Thompsons, there were Jeffersons, in our history, and we know very well they had a hand in building the province of Quebec, the country of Quebec, and we acknowledge their special role. None among us can claim—I see that the hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine is nodding her agreement—that the English Quebec community, the anglophone community, and the 90 some-odd other groups co-existing in Quebec, can be put on the same footing.
We therefore recognize—and I am pleased that the Leader of the Opposition has read the National Assembly motion—that the anglophone community, or the English speaking community as they chose to put it, is entitled to its educational structures, to schooling from kindergarten to the university level, according to a criterion found in article 73 of the Charter of the French Language. No one is challenging this. Moreover, generally speaking, I do not believe I am mistaken in thinking that the anglophone community, via a number of spokespersons, has been rather favourable to the point that, when it comes down to it, what it will get from the linguistic school boards is an enhanced control over its institutions. That is what it will mean to the anglophone community.
There are some, of course, who link this amendment with section 23(1)(a). Let us be accurate about it. To repeat, what we are dealing with today is an amendment which invites us to follow up on a unanimous resolution by the National Assembly concerning denominational schools and not—and I repeat—a debate addressing language rights.
We are not creating a precedent here, and I hope the Leader of the Opposition is going to share our enthusiasm and agree that we are doing the right thing, as parliamentarians, in relying on section 43 of the Constitution Act, 1982. We know full well that in the recent history of the Constitution, no precedent has been created.
The Parliament was asked on four occasions to use this amending formula, and you will recall that two of these cases concerned Newfoundland. In the first instance, it was to grant the Pentecostal Church the same rights the five other churches had in Newfoundland, and to that end section 42 was used. The Leader of the Opposition spoke at length about the most recent case involving Newfoundland.
The same section was applied to New Brunswick to enshrine the equality between the francophone community and the anglophone community. Closer to us—and at the time I was a member of this House—we used section 42 with regard to the construction of the bridge linking Prince Edward Island to the mainland.
Members should know that, as we speak, there is a bill before the national assembly, Bill 109. It is the result of the consensus I have been talking about for the past several minutes. I say to all my colleagues from every party that should we not be able to pass and proclaim this motion and the resulting bill due to a twist of fate—passing them is not enough, they have to be proclaimed—the national assembly would have a major problem. Bill 109 will create linguistic school boards across Quebec, thus bringing the number of school boards from 158 to 70, and making the Quebec education system more coherent.
If it were not passed by December—and this is why it is important that all political parties, the government, the Reform Party, the Conservatives and the NDP co-operate—it would create a problem for the National Assembly, because its legislation provides that everything should be in effect at the start of the next school year, including the administrative provisions dealing with the boundaries of the school boards' territory, student registration, and the sharing of existing facilities between the new school boards that will be created. In any case, the act still provides that school boards will be created.
However, if it were not passed, it would complicate things and the provincial government would have to reopen collective agreements with the unions. Such a situation would not benefit anyone, and certainly not Quebec students.
I want to make it very clear—and I am grateful to the minister for pointing it out—that in no way will the right to religious teaching be marginalized or diminished when linguistic school boards are created. As I said earlier, that right is clearly stated in the Education Act and in section 41 of the Quebec charter of rights, which is a quasi-constitutional provision.
Again, it is the National Assembly's prerogative to act upon this consensus. There is a consensus among all those who have expressed their views on the issue. We are talking about a large coalition.
If I took the time to mention all those who have been interested in this issue since the early eighties and who hope we can modernize Quebec's school system, you would see that everyone in our province supports this change.
The National Assembly approved the resolution unanimously, which means that all parties agree. This is no mean feat, considering it is the parliamentarians' role to debate, to challenge ideas, sometimes to reach a consensus. We are talking about a group which includes some very knowledgeable people, such as the MNA for Marquette who was at one time, albeit for a very brief period, chairman of the Montreal Catholic School Commission. Again, there is a consensus in Quebec's National Assembly, in fact, there is unanimity.
I would be lying if I said we are happy with the fact that seven senators will sit on this committee. The Government of Quebec believes, and we agree, that a strong enough consensus has developed and that the amendment only concerns Quebec and the federal government. Therefore, we would rather have done without the joint committee.
However, we respect the government's prerogative to conduct such consultations. We hope they will be carried out with all due diligence, but we will take the process seriously. We will listen to those who wish to make presentations but, again, we must bear in mind that we are dealing with education and what this amendment is about is enabling the National Assembly to rearrange the way school boards are managed. We think there is a strong enough consensus to allow this to proceed.
Similarities with the situation in Newfoundland make it necessary to exercise some caution. First, when we read about what happened in Newfoundland, we see that a referendum was held, the results of which were unequivocal—let us hope this will happen again—but still, the case of Newfoundland is somewhat unique, as I am told that it is the only Canadian province where the six religious denominations each controlled their own institutions and that the amendment passed by referendum in Newfoundland is designed to establish a public education system across the board so to speak, which is obviously not what Quebec is asking for. The amendment it is seeking is more administrative in nature.
We should therefore be careful not to make hasty comparisons with Newfoundland. I think it is important to reiterate our deep attachment to the anglophone community. We believe it has historically played a role in Quebec and we look to a future that includes the anglophone community. We are strongly committed, and I want to make it very clear, to rights. I find this a good test of democracy. I think it was the philosopher Valéry who said a civilization must be judged on the way it treats its minorities. Minority rights are, of course, an important element in the balance of a community.
Madam Speaker, you would not find the same thing anywhere else, if you and I were to agree, in a burst of generosity, to take a trip across Canada in order to try to find somewhat comparable examples elsewhere of how francophone minorities outside Quebec are treated. I think no Quebecker need feel ashamed of how the anglophone community is being treated, and we must continue along that path, as we have in the health system. An anglophone living in Quebec has access to institutions, to a public education system from kindergarten to university. That is something.
Contrary to section 223 of the 1982 legislation, there is not even a numerical criterion. The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs knows very well that we have never subjected anglophone rights to a clause such as “where numbers justify”.
I think that these are the facts the Reform Party ought to read, and I hope that our debates will run smoothly. I greatly fear we will get sidetracked and I am calling upon the maturity of all parties, of course. As you know, I shall keep my distance from any such sidetracking because what the debate must be about is denominational schools. The debate must be about the right of the province of Quebec, and the country of Quebec, to organize its own school boards, as the National Assembly wishes, and must not be about language rights. I think a great effort must be made to keep that in mind.
In closing, I would like to state that what strikes us as very important for the future is that the National Assembly must be respected and that we must be able to modernize the Quebec school system.
There is, moreover, certainly a connection to be made with all of the work currently being done in Quebec to ensure that programs to be implemented in the schools are such that they will prepare Quebecers for the society of the year 2000.
Madam Speaker, since you are indicating that my time is up, let me conclude by hoping that the debates will be calm ones and that the wishes of the National Assembly will be respected.
I would also like to remind the leader of the Reform Party that he need not look for a flawed democracy where it does not exist. If ever he would like to improve his French by coming with me to meet those who are actively involved in the Quebec educational system, I would be only too pleased to do so.