Mr. Speaker, so Lucien Bouchard, the Premier of Quebec, has refused to distance himself from the words of the former leader of the yes camp, Jacques Parizeau, who said that the referendum loss was attributable to ethnic groups such as the Greeks, the Jews and the Italians.
These words are offensive for all members of cultural communities who have always felt that they are Quebeckers in their own right.
We expected the Premier of Quebec to state loud and clear that he disagreed with such statements by Jacques Parizeau. On the contrary, and I quote one of the answers by Lucien Bouchard yesterday in the National Assembly: “Mr. Parizeau is a prominent citizen. He has the right to express himself and he went to speak directly to the people in English Canada—Mr. Parizeau is a great democrat”.
Since Lucien Bouchard supports these offensive statements, we take note that Mr. Parizeau's message now constitutes the official position of the PQ government in the area of cultural communities in Quebec.