Mr. Speaker, let me start by saying that the position taken by the government on Motion M-20 did not come as too much of a surprise.
To take a different position would have been tantamount for it to admit it made the wrong decision regarding the Somalia inquiry. It would also be against their principles, that is to act to cover something up. If there is one thing that this government does not seek it is to shed light on certain administrative decisions.
I am not too surprised that the government is not in favour of this motion. Something worries me and bothers me to some extent, though, and that is the fact that, when a member of the official opposition asked that my motion be made into a votable item, government members said no.
In a way, that both surprises me and does not surprise me, because we must understand that, with the support of the Reform Party, the NDP and the Conservative Party, all that would have been required for my motion to pass would have been the support of five Liberal members. I can understand that, to be on the safe side, they would rather this motion not be put forward or not be voted on in this House, just in case there were five members on their side who would vote against the party line, as some have done on other issues.
I would like to thank the opposition parties, that is to say the Reform Party, the New Democratic Party and the Progressive-Conservative Party, for truly grasping the meaning and, more importantly, the significance of this motion. What I heard was also repeated often and dealt directly with the objective I was pursuing, namely the legitimacy of the commission, the importance of knowing the truth, the search for that truth and the protection of the population. I think that all opposition parties understood that. It is unfortunate that the government opposite is refusing to be responsive to an extremely important issue.
The government often says that opposition members are here only to criticize and do nothing that is positive. I think that this was an opportunity for the government to acknowledge that an opposition member was right on an extremely important issue, namely that when a commission of inquiry is created, considering how important that is, a vote of two thirds in the House should be required to end the inquiry. This is how the opposition parties are being thanked.
There is perhaps only one thing that they did not understand, and I would like to come back to that briefly. Members from the Reform Party and from the NDP mentioned that they did not really understand, at least the Reform Party did not, the two thirds requirement, for two reasons. The first was that this would limit the influence of the Bloc Quebecois on government decisions because the Bloc Quebecois does not have enough members to bring about an end to the commission.
In this respect, it was not undue influence that I was looking for with this motion, but fairness, and I think that the two thirds rule would allow to demonstrate clearly that all members in this House wish to end or to continue an inquiry. My objective was absolutely not to give the Bloc Quebecois special influence over Parliament. I believe that with 44 members, we have more than enough to do to represent Quebeckers properly.
The other point that bothers me a bit more, and I would like to mention this, is that members of the Reform Party and the NDP claimed not to understand why it took 66% to terminate a commission or allow it to continue, while it took 50% plus one in the case of a referendum for Quebec to become a sovereign nation. I hope that they said this off the top of their heads, that they did not think before they spoke.
I believe very sincerely that there is a difference between a vote by elected officials on an administrative matter, such as the continuation or termination of a commission of inquiry, whether it is important, as I was saying, or not, and the democratic vote of a people. I think there is a fundamental difference between the decision of a people and an administrative decision.
I did not pluck the two-thirds rule out of thin air. All members know, if they listen to their constituents occasionally, that in order for non-profit organizations to be able to change their by-laws they often require the consent of two-thirds of their general assembly. This is not a criterion selected out of the blue, but one that I think is generally recognized in administrative circles.
However, 50% plus one in a democracy is a criterion that is also recognized internationally. When a people vote in an election or a referendum, the majority, the 50% plus one, rules. There is nothing contradictory about this and I think that, if members give a little thought to their position, to what they have just said, they will understand that there is a fundamental difference between the two, and that the 50% plus one is the principle that Quebeckers defend each time a referendum is held in Quebec.
I will close with that. I again offer the government an opportunity to agree to a vote on this motion.
Once again, I ask the government to agree to put Motion M-20 to a vote, so that we may really know what this House of elected representatives, this House representing Canada and Quebec, among others, thinks of the motion I am moving.
I would ask for the unanimous consent of the House that this motion be made votable.