Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Berthier—Montcalm.
Today we are debating an issue of the utmost importance for people in Quebec and Canada: that the House of Commons recognize the right of the Quebec people to decide their own future.
Last week, Quebec society reached a consensus, denouncing the reference to the Supreme Court as an attempt by the federal government to subjugate the democratic will of the people of Quebec to a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Quebeckers from every political stripe, both federalists and sovereignists, agree with this. As early as last December, the Pro-Démocratie group sent out a call to mobilize against this direct attack aimed at Quebec's democratic institutions.
This group is made up of influential people such as Jean-Claude Rivest, a Conservative senator, André Tremblay, a former constitutional adviser to Robert Bourassa, Pierre Paquette, the CSN general secretary, Claude Corbo, a former rector of the University of Quebec, the author Marco Miccone, and Monique Vézina, chair of the Mouvement national des Québécoises et des Québécois and former federal minister.
This is a historical consensus. I choose the word “historical” because, for more than 30 years, regardless of the political debate, there has always been a broad consensus on this crucial question within our society, a consensus that dates back to the very birth of Canada, based on the concept of two founding peoples.
As far back as 1977, René Lévesque made a clear statement on this right, in response to attacks from Prime Minister Trudeau: “There is no question of the future of the Quebec people being decided by anyone other than Quebeckers themselves”.
That statement was reflected in a National Assembly resolution in response to a framework referendum act tabled by the federal parliament in 1978. That resolution, adopted in May 1978, read as follows: “That the members of this Assembly unequivocally and firmly reiterate that they subscribe to the principle that Quebeckers alone are entitled to decide their own constitutional future, in accordance with the dispositions and rules this Assembly sees fit to enact”.
This historical consensus has been expressed on more than three occasions since that resolution: in 1980, at the time of the first referendum on sovereignty; in 1992, during the referendum on the Charlottetown Accord; and in 1995, during the last referendum. On three occasions, the federal government recognized this Quebec consensus by participating of its own free will in the referendum campaigns and by even accepting Quebec's consultation of its people in keeping with the Quebec referendum legislation at the time of the Charlottetown accord.
But now today we find the federal government, led by its Prime Minister, trying to deny this reality, this consensus shared in by all of the key stakeholders of Quebec society.
That is why Claude Ryan and Daniel Johnson spoke out last week against this historical backtracking. The two former leaders of the no camp in the last two referendums on sovereignty merely reiterated their support and deep attachment to Quebec and Canadian democracy. For them, and for millions of Quebeckers, the debate on the sovereignty of Quebec is not a legal question, but a political one, a question of democracy.
For them, and for millions of Quebeckers, in the debate on Quebec sovereignty the democratically expressed voice of the Quebec people is what counts, not the decision by nine federal government-appointed justices.
For them, as for millions of Quebeckers, the debate on sovereignty goes far beyond a legal issue.
There is a huge distance between the people of Quebec and the federal government, which is trying to subjugate the sovereign will of a people to the will of a court of law, to submit our will to a constitution, which the National Assembly has never approved and which was imposed unilaterally on us by Ottawa.
For democratic Quebeckers, the sovereign will of a people is above a constitution. The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs is doing his level best to subject the vote of Quebeckers to the Constitution of 1982.
People who believe in democracy know that people decide on constitutions; constitutions do not dominate people. If there were no people, there would be no constitutions. We place the democratic voice of the people of Quebec above the Constitution of Canada, whereas the federal government and its Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs are trying to subject Quebeckers to the Constitution, which never received the approval of the National Assembly of Quebec.
And they chose the supreme court to attack Quebeckers' fundamental right. The supreme court, their supreme court, their rule of law, their outdated colonial pretensions.
As was pointed out by an international law expert, Alain Pellet, the chair of the United Nations International Law Commission, we are dealing with one of the worst attempts by a government at political manipulation. The Prime Minister is trying to use the supreme court as a political and partisan tool.
It is a frontal attack on the institutions of Quebec, on a fundamental right of the people of Quebec and especially on the principles of democracy dear to Canadians and Quebeckers both.
Today's motion will be very revealing. We will finally see whether some members of this House are capable of backing their words with their actions.
In 1991, the New Democratic Party said: “The New Democratic Party recognizes the right of Quebeckers to self-determination. The New Democrats will respect the result of the democratic expression of this right.” If the New Democrats are willing to respect the result of a referendum, it means that what matters to them is the ballot box and not the opinion of the nine Justices of the Supreme Court.
In 1991 also, the annual meeting of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada passed the following resolution: “Be it resolved that the right of Quebeckers to self-determination be confirmed.” Therefore Conservatives also recognized that it is a political question, since they acknowledged that it is the right of Quebeckers to decide their own future, not the right of nine justices appointed by the federal government. New Democrats and Conservatives will therefore have to abide by the democratic will of their own rank-and-file members and support the motion introduced by the Bloc Quebecois.
Finally, if Reform members vote against the motion it will not be the first time that they target Quebec. Yesterday, they were denying Quebeckers the right to be candidates. Today, if they vote against the motion, they will deny Quebeckers the right to freely choose their own future.
Even though the Liberals got involved in the referendum, they never explicitly recognized the right of Quebec to democratically decide its own future, but the Liberal Party of Quebec did so a number of times.
The message sent to the House of Commons through our motion is intended for all parliamentarians, in Quebec and in Canada. It is an unequivocal message that neither judges, the federal government or the rest of Canada will decide the future of a whole nation.
In conclusion, I must recall what my father, Jean Duceppe, said on June 25, 1990, in his last speech. He said, and I quote: “One thing is for certain. The future of Quebec will no longer be decided in Newfoundland, Manitoba or elsewhere. It will be decided in Quebec by the Quebeckers themselves”.