Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague from Richelieu for his speech delivered with his usual dynamism, which provided a very insightful look at our institutions.
As you heard, he very aptly described the other House, which is called the Senate and which should not be called the Senate—a collection of dinosaurs that costs Canadians millions of dollars, an undemocratic institution, as my colleague from Richelieu so ably pointed out.
I would like to ask him, more specifically, what logic he sees in the operation of the Senate and in the head of Senator Beaudouin. I hope we can name him, for I want to make sure we understand one another. What kind of logic does he detect in the head of the ineffable constitutionalist Beaudouin, who is now a richly rewarded and oh-so-objective senator, who continues to appear as an expert on the CBC with all of its objectivity, who covered himself in shame the other day in the face of the alleged consensus, as he put it, in Quebec on the amendments to be made to the Constitution in order to set up a system of education based on language rather than religion, and who said that a referendum was required? There is no consensus in Quebec, a referendum is required.
In Newfoundland they had a referendum and the government is once again stepping in to slow the democratic process and set up a joint committee to study the problem. I do not understand the logic of these people. I would like to know whether my colleague from Richelieu understands it. They want us to hold a referendum and when we have one, it is still not enough.
Where is democracy in Parliament, in this government, in Canadian institutions, which are becoming increasingly spineless and which are increasingly branding Canada as a country with no ethics?