It is an unfortunate oversight on my part, and I apologize.
The Minister of Industry of Canada received that letter on April 7, 1999. In his letter, the president of the Chambre des notaires—he is not a member of parliament so that I can name him—,Denis Marsolais, said “For all these reasons, among others, we believe that an amendment is necessary in order to exclude professionals, notaries as well as any other person or organization otherwise subject to Quebec's legislation from its application”.
Can it be any clearer? And it is the president of the Chambre des notaires who is speaking. He represents people who deal every day with this act. These people draft contracts; they are in regular contact with governments and private corporations when they sign contracts. They know Quebec's law also applies to the private sector, and the president of Quebec's Chambre des notaires says that this bill cannot be adopted without an amendment excluding Quebec from its application on its territory.
When Liberal members present this bill in the House, I agree they can defend its validity. I have nothing against the fact that they are saying it could be good legislation. They have the right to say those things, but they do not have the right to say that we are against it just because we are always against everything the federal government does.
As far as reasonable and interesting measures are concerned, we have a support rate very similar to that of all other opposition parties. However, we withhold support when Quebec's interests are at stake and must be defended, when we must ensure that all Quebecers are covered by legislation. This also means that this coverage must not be too extensive, because we have seen many instances of both governments legislating in the same areas of jurisdiction.
Members need only think of the administrative nightmare and the extra operating costs incurred by an insurance company that has its headquarters in Quebec but does business in other provinces, when two acts based on different sets of basic principles apply. The costs could be prohibitive.
It will also create problems for people affected by these two acts. All this because the federal government is determined to pass what it considers national legislation. It seems that the government cannot recognize that there can be solutions that are not all inclusive. It must always include all of Canada. For the government, all problems must be addressed the same way, be it in Vancouver, St. John's or Quebec City.
But that, however, is not the reality. In Quebec we have a particular civil code. The Liberal members should know that. Especially those from outside Quebec. I hope that those from Quebec have known this for a very long time. However, I do not see why they cannot be here in the House to say that it makes no sense to vote in favour of this bill.
Why do they not rise and say “As members for Quebec, we are federalists, but in this instance, Quebec legislation must be respected”. I simply cannot understand why party discipline is involved in it.
I will conclude on this point. The federal government has been trying to have us swallow a bill on the protection of personal information for over a year. We are defending here all the interests of Quebecers with respect to the matter of personal information. We will defend them to the end. We will insist on our point until we get satisfaction from the government. Should the House pass this bill, it will be like all the other measures taken by the federal government that constitute the main reasons we want to leave this country, which does not understand us, and most importantly, which does not want to understand us, because of its invasive action.