Mr. Speaker, that just goes to prove what I want to say, that these people cannot take part in an honest and open debate. Their describing the justices of the Supreme Court as people dressed up like Santa Claus shows the respect the Bloc Quebecois has for the eminent justices of our Supreme Court. That is the tone of this debate.
That is precisely why we need parliamentary commissions. We need parliamentary commissions, because we are dealing here with the vested rights of minorities who have the right to be heard and to ask for a comprehensive debate on their rights.
The Bloc Quebecois would like to see this pushed through because the three parties in the Quebec National Assembly voted unanimously in favour of the resolution placed before them. I would point out to the members of the Bloc Quebecois that this same resolution denies the existence for Quebec of the 1982 Constitution, which they themselves invoke in creating linguistic school boards.
So the minorities will have to trust a government which says “You are protected under section 23 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but at the same time we do not recognize that Charter”. These are the same people who have referred to the Supreme Court justices as wearing Santa suits. That is why we need parliamentary commissions here.
In the case of Newfoundland, at least its government will have had the courage to hold two referendums in a row. Let us recall the debates that went on about term 17—
A lot of us said “Let's be careful. Let's use extreme caution when you talk about constitutional amendments”. Maybe we should have had a longstanding parliamentary commission when term 17 was first debated.
That is not what we did. We pushed it through quickly. What happened? When it got to Newfoundland, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland said “No, no, don't go ahead with the school boards”, which caused a second referendum to take place.
I know 73% of those who voted declared that they were for the changes proposed by the Government of Newfoundland. That means also on the other side, and I appreciate all that my colleague has said.
Of course we need reform in the school system. Of course all of us are for reform in the school system, but what we should worry about—I don't say that our answers will be any different—fundamentally is that 27% in Newfoundland, and those people in Quebec who come before us at the parliamentary commission and say “Let's use more caution. Let's take more time”. Instead of that, we have declared that on November 7, for Quebec for all intents and purposes the committee stops its work, and December 5 for Newfoundland.
I have taken part in many pieces of legislation, both in the National Assembly of Quebec and here, where we took months to look at legislation. I remember the CEPA hearings on the environment which took over a year to decide whether we were on the right track or not.
Yet somehow we trivialize constitutional amendments. We take them for granted. If a majority here or a majority there decides, then it must be right.
The fundamental reason for constitutional protection is not to protect majorities who can change laws whenever they want. It is to protect minorities who cannot change those laws. That is why we need those parliamentary commissions. That is why we need senators, because the fact is that senators are far less partisan than our Houses, whether it be in Quebec or Newfoundland or here.
That is why we need depth in our parliamentary commissions, to hear as many people as possible, to take more time if necessary, to pause, to use caution before we change the constitutional provision which, once gone, can never come back because the minorities can never reinstitute them. The majority will always rule.
That is the point I want to make today. I want to ask that we treat these constitutional amendments, whether they be in Newfoundland or in Quebec, by taking all the time necessary. I must admit very frankly that in Newfoundland much more care has been taken to involve people than was the case in Quebec. If another week will go by, another month will go by and another year will go by, this will not change the world.
That is the spirit. I never interrupted the gentleman. That is the spirit. That is the spirit of the Bloc Quebecois. They cannot tolerate another opinion. They cannot tolerate an opinion that is not theirs, and they talk about democracy. They talk about extremists in the parliamentary commission that is hearing Bill 93. I will suggest that the public will judge from the debate here where extremism is. I suggest it is not on this side. We want a fair debate. We want an open debate. We want a constructive debate. All we say is that constitutional provisions are there to protect acquired rights, fundamental rights and minority rights. Let us take whatever time is necessary to listen to people to make sure once and for all that we are on the right track.