Madam Speaker, I have several questions to ask my colleague.
First, he raised the consensus issue, that is what is an adequate consensus. Does the fact that the leader of the no side in 1980, Mr. Ryan, finds that the federal policy in this area is unacceptable, that the leader of the committee in 1995, Mr. Daniel Johnson, the current leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, finds it unacceptable, not seem to be the beginning of an interesting consensus in Quebec?
Second, when Liberals say “a clear question”, that is an insult to Quebeckers. If the question had not been clear, do you think that 93% of the people would have answered it? His whole political organization worked to have people vote on the no side. That means that you are contradicting yourselves.
Is there not a clear message in there? Is it not a insult to the intelligence of Quebeckers to tell them that the question was not clear and that there was no possibility to decide properly? Quebeckers came to a decision in 1980, came to a decision in 1992 on the Charlottetown accord, came to a decision in 1995. They know full well the political issue that is at stake. It is an insult to their intelligence to show such an attitude.
Third, what we reproach the supreme court for is not the fact that it is a tribunal. It is the federal government that uses the supreme court as a tool, with three loaded questions, to ensure beforehand that the answers will be the ones it wants to obtain.
That is a tactic one usually resorts to when one knows once are losing. Instead of trying to win on the skating rink, they are trying to change the rules of the game. It was the same thing this morning with the amendment.
There is an important distinction to be made. This morning, the minister was not able to move his amendment because it was out of order. It is not my fault if he still does not know how things should be done. If he does not know our procedure, and if there were difficulties within the majority in Parliament, it is not my problem.
But it should never be said that this amendment has been rejected by people on this side. It was not accepted because it was out of order.