They are divided, that is true. Is that the kind of country you want? Not me.
What is important here, and it is even mentioned in the bill, is that the role of the provinces is a residual one. It is subject to the federal role. Even though Quebec and Ontario are the two main trade patterns, Ontario has officially no say in this. Nowhere does the opinion of the supreme court give the federal government an additional role compared to the provinces. However, the federal government has decided to negotiate on behalf of the provinces and to take into consideration their points of view.
Take into consideration? Did it consult the other provinces about this? Did the provinces introduce a bill like this one? Did they give to the great federal government the authority to negotiate secession on their behalf? I am not sure that Albertans would agree to that. I am sure that Ontarians would disagree. I am not sure the maritime provinces would support the Liberal government and say “Yes, if Quebec separates, go ahead and negotiate on behalf of maritimers. You have the authority to do it. We rely on Ottawa to negotiate on our behalf and on behalf of western Canada”. This is hogwash.
There is more. In addition to excluding the provinces from the negotiations following the secession of a part of Canada, there is talk of excluding the opposition here. There are speeches about uniting during the Christmas holidays. But here we are talking about dividing as a country before the Christmas holidays. But that is another matter.
Mr. Speaker, I had forgotten to tell you something. First, I really appreciate having you as a Speaker and, second, I will divide my time with the hon. member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough.
In the bill, the government, in addition to excluding the provinces, is technically excluding the four opposition parties here. Why? Because it talks about the House of Commons. It says the House of Commons will analyze all this. Looking at the way the Liberals have been conducting their business since 1993, we see that it is the PMO that makes the decisions. However, the PMO, the Prime Minister's Office, is not Canada. Is it clear enough? The decisions should be made by all parliamentarians.
The government bill is silent. The government talks about negotiating sovereignty, secession, and says that parliamentary rules will remain the same. It does not even talk about free votes.
I was talking with the hon. member for Tobique—Mactaquac this morning. I asked “Why not have a free vote on that?” He said “Why not?”
But they are not saying what we will be voting on. We do not even have a resolution. There is no analysis of what a clear question is. We do not even know if our negotiations in this House are clear.
What percentage will be needed for the House to say that there is a clear majority? What percentage of the votes cast? Will we use the parliamentary rule which requires 50% of the votes plus one? Will the governor in council or the Prime Minister's office decide if the question and the majority are clear?
Why not say in the bill that members of parliament will be more involved and, above all, that provinces and regions of Canada will be involved? There is nothing like that. It is the silence of the lambs. There is absolutely nothing to that effect.
The only one who is given a role is the Prime Minister, so that he can say that the question is not clear and that the majority is not clear. There will be a short debate in parliament, but, knowing the parliamentary process as we know it, we can anticipate a closure motion and the debate will be cut short. We will be told “Enough talking. We find that it is not clear enough”. The provinces will be told “You can write a letter if you want and tell us what you think, but we will make the decision”.
This is not what the supreme court said. The bill was introduced last Friday thanks to a little trick. They used to accuse the former premier of Quebec, Mr. Parizeau, of trickery. However, promises were made and agreements were concluded with the House leaders. They were told “This is an important bill, an important draft bill. We will wait for everybody to recover from the madness the Reform Party put us through, and we will come back with it next week, when everybody is rested”.
But no, the draft bill was tabled. What is going on? What a great beginning for negotiations. If the government is not even capable of treating parliamentarians with respect, imagine the provinces, imagine Quebec. This is nothing to be proud of. It is not just the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, I realize, there is a little gang of people controlling the procedural aspects of the government. This is a slap in the face of democracy. They could have waited until Monday.
What happened is that he introduced it and then he took off. After that, out came the ministers, one after another. The Minister of Finance came out first of all with his “Hi there, how are you? I am in agreement with it”. Then, two minutes later, the Minister for International Trade said “Oh yes, we are fine with it”. That is the way it was done. All the people who had nothing to say on the matter, who remained silent, were anxiously waiting to be told “Go out there, we will be timing you”. That is the way it went—a lovely sight to behold.
I was off in my riding, settling some real business, like making sure some people on unemployment would at least get a cheque for Christmas, because they have children too. It is important.
There were the ministers all saying, one after another “Oh yes, it is reasonable”. But at that time no one had seen the bill. Many MPs were off in their ridings. There were the initial reactions. Mr. Clark put it very well, borrowing a quote from Robert Stanfield “Nothing is easier to do than to turn the majority in a country against a minority”. Nothing is easier to do than to divide this country.
Now we have a bill. Hooray. We are one of the few countries in the world that now has such a thing. We have a recipe book. The finest country, the best place to live, now has a recipe book on how to break up. That is really something.
I know my time is nearly up. I can get emotional. When Quebec is being discussed, it affects me. When they come up with such a piece of legislation, when I am taken for a fool, it affects me. It upsets and offends me.