Madam Speaker, today is a very sad day indeed as the House of Commons prepares to deny the legitimacy of the national assembly to trample upon democracy in Quebec.
In order to have a proper understanding of what is going on, we must go back over history to learn from it and to identify the key figures of yesterday and of today.
The Quebec people, who were then called Canadiens or even Canayens, were conquered by the British in 1760. This was a victory for one side and a defeat for the other.
Since then Quebec has had no desire for revenge. In fact there have instead been several attempts to reach an agreement between the two peoples. The Canadiens of the time, who later became French Canadians, and still later Quebecers, invested all of their imagination, their goodwill, in getting along with Canada.
There is, however, one fundamental and undeniable requirement for this: recognition of what we are, a people.
That objective has not been attained, despite much effort. Throughout history democrats in Canada have stood up to open their arms to Quebec, but their point of view has never won out. This, unfortunately, has been the case for a number of peoples. Some Canadiens, later French Canadians and still later Quebecers, offered their services to the conqueror, and now to the rest of Canada, in order to put the people of Quebec in their place, to do a number on their fellow Quebecers, which they could do a far better job at than their masters.
History is replete with individuals for whom principles and the defence of their own people are of very little importance compared to the power they can gain, the kudos they get from it, and the perks of all kinds that are forthcoming to those who do the dirty work for others, who are only too pleased not to have to do it themselves. That held true yesterday, and holds equally true today.
Throughout its history the Quebec people have resisted, have fought for their rights and have obtained some, even in 1774 with the Quebec Act.
There people, by their resistance fighting, got one of the first parliaments in the world, the parliament in Quebec City in 1791. Our democratic roots go a long way back. In Quebec we have a long tradition of democracy.
The 1791 parliament did not really have much power, no more than the modern parliament in Quebec has every power, as it is not sovereign. The people were denied power then and will again be denied power now, 200 years later.
The people of Quebec are a tolerant and peaceful people, but they will not live on its knees or let others decide on their behalf. This is as true today as it was then. Men and women rebelled against the uncompromising attitude of the British back then. They were called the Patriotes. Our ancestors are a true inspiration to us.
They were definitely ahead of their time. Forerunners of the modern Quebec, they fought for their people, not for an ethnic group. Among them were men like Robert Nelson and Wilfred Nelson. They recognized native rights. It took 150 years for another Patriot, René Lévesque, to rise in 1985 and recognize, before any other Canadian province and the Canadian government itself, the first nations' right to self-government, as provided for in the motion of the national assembly that was not unanimously accepted because Quebec Liberals voted against it.
The Patriotes fought along with the Upper Canada Patriots, the democrats of the time, against the family compact or la clique du château, laying the foundations of the kind of co-operation that is needed between democratic neighbours and treating each other as equals. This was long before sovereignists started to talk about this. These were the first steps in what we now call a partnership between equals.
The Patriotes were crushed, as we know, but their legacy is still alive. At the time, however, the authorities did not learn anything from these rebellions. They responded with the Durham report, which said that the people of Quebec, the people of Lower Canada, were a people with no history and no culture. Today, 160 years later, this government denies the existence of the people of Quebec, makes Quebec culture a regional component of the Canadian culture and is trying to undermine our democratic institutions.
Durham laid the foundations of the union of the two Canadas, the Province of Canada, the plan for a single Canada that now has a much more subtle, pernicious and dangerous look. This plan was based on equal representation in parliament, even though the population of Lower Canada was significantly larger than the one of Upper Canada. Today we are told that all provinces are equal, Quebec only being a province like the others, no more no less.
The only official language of the parliament of the time was English. Today Ottawa, the federal capital of this supposedly bilingual country, is not even bilingual. And this is what the government wants to hold up as an example. How history repeats itself.
Lower Canada paid for the debt of Upper Canada, which did not have debt. Today we are told about the great generosity of the federal government, which paid off its deficit on the backs of the provinces, knowing full well that the one who has the money is the one who sets the rules. This was once called fair play, and still is. In my view, this was once hypocrisy, and still is.
Those who wielded power at the time even went so far as to burn down the parliament building in Montreal. Today their heirs want to give us lessons in democracy. Let us talk about democracy.
When the men known as the Fathers of Confederation signed the 1867 pact, they did not allow the people of Lower Canada to hold a referendum. They were satisfied with the votes of a few parliamentarians, as was the case in 1982 for the patriation of the constitution. The assemblies of the other provinces and the House here made the decision without ever consulting the people of Quebec.
That is when a whole series of attacks began against French-speaking Canadians from coast to coast. Now the House is paying tribute to Riel, who was hanged. But the problems that gave rise to the situation with Riel were never resolved. The Metis and the natives are second-class citizens in Canada. Francophones in the other provinces are more than ever in danger of becoming assimilated, despite the laudable efforts they are making across Canada to resist assimilation. The figures do not lie.
Legislation was passed in Manitoba and Ontario on behalf of the majority and for the sake of fair play to hinder the development of francophone minorities. That is what I call hypocrisy.
However, the French Canadians who believed they were one of the founding nations of this country never gave up. I am thinking, for instance, of people like Bourassa. Hon. members from the province of Quebec have always been asked to help Canada put Quebec in its proper place. It happened before, and it is happening again today.
There are members from Quebec in this House whose ultimate job is to put Quebec in its place. As time went by, as Canada developed as a country, the consolidation of Hugh McLennan's two solitudes became more and more obvious. We can think of the conscription in World War I, where the militia even went as far as opening fire on people in Quebec City, killing a few protesters.
The anglophone majority was counting on its parliament in Ottawa and on London to put Quebec in its place. It did happen in 1927, with the privy council's decision concerning Labrador, but French Canadians kept trying to make Canada their country, and they were consistently deceived.
Promises concerning conscription were broken in World War II. Today the government would have us believe that by not determining what would be an acceptable majority in a Quebec referendum it will keep its promise. We have heard that before. The federation became increasingly centralized with the creation of the unemployment insurance program in Ottawa and the introduction of income tax for the duration of the war, or so they said at the time.
French Canadians continued to fight. We were patient. Then came a great awakening, the quiet revolution, when Quebec discovered itself while discovering the world. “Masters in our own home”, said Lesage. Our own home meant Quebec. It could no longer be anything else. At that time only Quebec was considered home by all Quebecers. It was true then, it is true now, and it will still be true tomorrow. “A mari usque ad mare” was a dream, and it became an illusion. The quiet revolution marked the start of an overwhelming impulse, with Quebecers moving from resistance to affirmation. The Quebec culture was flourishing like never before. Quebecers were taking control over their own affairs and penetrating the business world. We were being told that we were not able, that we could not create Hydro Quebec. It was always the others, always the same who were telling us “You cannot do it”.
I remember this beautiful slogan, popular in 1966, “We can do it”. We were told “You are not good at business”. We certainly had enough blows. Ottawa reacted by establishing the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. In 1963 we found out that, on average, Quebecers had a grade nine education. Enough to be water boys but not nation builders.
Quebec then focused on education. It took control over its destiny. Quebecers developed a taste for freedom, and we all know that those who get a taste for it never have enough.
This is when the sovereignist movement appeared in all its modernity. It provoked reactions in Canada. I think of Lester B. Pearson who spoke of “a nation within a nation”, and of Robert Stanfield who referred to “two nations”. Some people were starting to see us for what we were, for what we are, a distinct people, a nation.
Then came out of Quebec a French Canadian who was ready to play the role that Canada generally assigns to those who agree to put Quebec in its place. Pierre Elliott Trudeau did not miss a chance to criticize Quebec's modern nationalism. According to him, nationalism was a good thing for all other peoples around the world. It was good for Canadians, but a shameful disease for Quebecers.
Then a real nation building effort started, the Canadian nation building, in which Quebec never had its place, still has no place and will never have a place.
Yet Quebec persevered. We have great patience. Daniel Johnson Sr. put forward the concept of equality or independence. Nobody listened. He was even rebuffed by Pierre Elliott Trudeau. We understood then that there could never be equality without independence.
This is the great hope, the blueprint for the future that was put forward by the Parti Quebecois, a resolutely modern and democratic party, the bearer of a project of hope, a contemporary and modern project that finds its inspiration in Europe, where various sovereign countries are getting together into larger entities such as the European Union.
The federalists have denounced this project; they would have had the people believe, back then as today, that Europe was taking Canada as a model. How I would like to see the Prime Minister go to the national assembly of France and predict to its members and senators that within 15 to 20 years France will no longer be a sovereign country. How I would like to see the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs go to Westminster and announce to the British people that within 15 to 20 years Great Britain will disappear into a large European entity, having lost its status as a sovereign country. And while we are at it, why not have the Secretary of State for Amateur Sport go to the Bundestag in Berlin and bring the good news to the Germans.
This is a modern project we are proposing. Ottawa's answer to this modern plan was scaremongering, a favourite tactic on the part of those who have nothing to offer. Then came the Brinks affair, and the War Measures Act whereby hundreds of innocent people were thrown in jail. We can already see the hand of today's Prime Minister in this.
He was so sure he had succeeded that in August 1976 Pierre Elliott Trudeau turned prophet: “Separatism is dead in Quebec.” Three months later, René Lévesque and the Parti Quebecois formed the first sovereignist government in Quebec's modern history.
Quebec witnessed then a tremendous momentum. It was the scene of many achievements in the area of democracy, opening up to others, to Canada, to the world. René Lévesque offered a policy of reciprocity regarding Quebec's anglophone minorities and Canada's francophone minorities, which are supposedly a concern of this legislation. The Canadian provinces turned him down.
We can see the hypocrisy of some people, such as the hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, who says that anglophones in Quebec are being discriminated against. Let us look at the facts. Anglophones in Quebec have access to a state-of-the-art hospital network while, right here in Ottawa, the only francophone hospital in Ontario, the Monfort hospital, has to repeatedly fight for its life before the supreme court. There is no comparison.
Quebec's anglophones have access to a school network ranging from elementary school to high school to college, with three universities of their own, McGill, Bishop and Concordia. They have rights and so they should. Look at the painful situation of francophones outside Quebec. They have their own social and cultural institutions.
Compare this to an assimilation rate of 70% in British Columbia, over 60% in the prairies, 40% in Ontario, and even 8% in Acadia where the francophones, a courageous breed, the Acadians, are fighting with all their might and are dreaming of enjoying the same living conditions as anglophones in Quebec.
The Parti Quebecois government proposed a referendum that would provide it with the mandate to negotiate a new framework for Quebec's relationship with Canada, the kind of relationship between two sovereign nations, and the kind of modern association that can exist between two sovereign nations. That was a project based on the European model a project, I repeat, which was promising. Was it not the U.S. president himself, Bill Clinton, who in Mont-Tremblant used the evolution of the European Union as an example of federalism development in the future? How is it that, if it is so promising for Europe, it could be so bad for Quebec and Canada?
The response of the federal government was to try to scare Quebecers in the 1980 referendum, telling them that they would lose their old age pension, showing no respect for Quebec's democratic referendum process, spending federal funds to interfere in that process without any consideration for the Quebec referendum legislation and promising change, sticking its neck out.
Quebec got scared. It believed in change one more time, but the disappointment was huge. We then saw the patriation of the constitution, following the night of the long knives, in which, once again, the present Prime Minister took part. This is one thing that has remained constant in our history over the last 40 years.
The constitution was patriated despite a very large consensus in Quebec among all parties represented in the national assembly. Not one Quebec premier, federalist or sovereignist, from Lévesque to Ryan, leader of the opposition, to Robert Bourassa, to Daniel Johnson Jr., to Pierre-Marc Johnson, to Jacques Parizeau to Lucien Bouchard, signed the constitution, and Jean Charest would not sign it either.
What was done to Quebec at that time would have never been done to Ontario or even to Prince Edward Island. And it was done without a referendum. That insult, that injustice, did not bring Quebec to capitulate. It continued to fight and tried to work toward a reconciliation. This was the “beau risque”, which paved the way to the Meech Lake accord. Once again Quebec was isolated and once again we saw the current Prime Minister say “Thank you, Clyde” for a job well done.
At that point, Robert Bourassa said that English Canada must clearly understand that whatever happens and whatever is done, Quebec is and always will be a distinct society, one that is free and quite capable of taking charge of its own destiny and development. He created the Bélanger-Campeau commission that carried out broad democratic consultations and recommended that a referendum on sovereignty be held if renewed federalism were to fail.
Quebecers tried to figure out what they would do either within Canada or as a sovereign nation and they examined the pros and cons. It may be about time for Canadians to ask themselves the same question. How do they see Canada with Quebec and how do they imagine Canada without Quebec. They should address this issue. It would be the responsible thing to do.
However, Mr. Bourassa lacked confidence in his fellow Quebecers and backed down. He signed an agreement that had yet to be drafted—talk about clarity—an agreement based on legal documents that had yet to be drafted, an agreement that would never have been distributed to the population were it not for the opposition party. The agreement fully embodied the two solitudes. Both sides voted no, but for very different reasons: the agreement was not enough for Quebec and too much for the rest of Canada.
A new government was elected in Quebec, a sovereignist government that submitted for a second time to Quebecers a sovereignty project along with a new partnership proposal.
The question was clear. Nowhere in the opinion of the supreme court does it say that the question was not clear. Nothing in it excludes a partnership proposal with some federal or confederal bodies.
For Ottawa, there is only one kind of federalism on this earth and it is the one in existence in Canada. There is only one kind of relationship, one kind of collaboration possible, and it is what we have now in Canada. For Ottawa, the rest of the world does not exist.
As I remember, during the referendum campaign the Prime Minister very eloquently predicted that we were going to get it, that we were going to get under 40% of the votes. We know what the results were, even after the love-in that was held, with total disregard for the Quebec referendum legislation, where people came to tell us that they love us when we are subservient, when we are pliant, when we are down on our knees and when we are Liberal. More promises were made after that.
The distinct society motion had no substance at all. We were told that “The motion would impact on all the bills passed in the House”. However, take the Young Offenders Act. All of the political parties represented in Quebec's national assembly as well as all the lawyers, judges, social workers and even police officers have stated “We do not want this new bill. Let us keep the system we have in Quebec, which has given us the best results possible in this area”. What impact did the distinct society motion have on the recognition of this consensus? None, none at all. It had no substance at all. We knew it and we see it once again today.
A so-called veto was also given to all of the regions. This led to total paralysis, as we saw with the Meech Lake accord, where not only a province or a territory, but a single individual was able to block what Quebec wanted. To top it off, we were offered a social union. There were two distinct views: one in favour in Canada and one opposed in Quebec. The Liberal members in this House, a minority here, we remind them, once again supported the Canadian view, ignoring the view in Quebec.
This belittling of Quebec is a true obsession with the Prime Minister. Inspired by his muse, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, he is now going after the powers of the national assembly. He would like to impose the wording of the question on the national assembly. Yet, in 1994, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs said that the words secession, separation, sovereignty and independence all meant the same thing.
Apparently, this is no longer the case. He has changed his mind. I suppose he would also say that Quebecers are not intelligent enough to decide if a question is clear; the folks in Vancouver, Moose Jaw, Halifax, Toronto and Regina, who know all about clarity, must be consulted.
He tells us that elected representatives in the national assembly are incapable of clarity, as are the federal members from Quebec in the House of Commons, the 44 Bloc Quebecois members in Ottawa and the four members of the Progressive Conservative Party who are not in agreement with the bill. The Liberal members from Quebec are in the minority, but we would not understand. The 26 Liberal members from Quebec know what is best. This is nothing more than contempt and arrogance.
This same bill questions the rule of 50% plus one. Let us consider Newfoundland. Why? Two referendums. Why did 50% plus one apply in the case of Newfoundland? Why was Quebec never consulted when Newfoundland joined confederation in 1949? Why this double standard? Why did the government not set figures, rules, percentages and thresholds in its legislation? Undoubtedly because it was afraid of being challenged internationally or in the courts.
If it was dangerous to set a percentage beforehand, why is it any less so to set one once the results are in? How can Ottawa be judge and judged? What are these relevant conditions for setting the percentage? Again, Ottawa will decide.
Is the federal government, the Liberal party, essentially the sole bearer of the truth, the whole truth? By raising the issue of partition in this bill, is the government not going back on all its positions with respect to maintaining the borders of new countries, such as the Baltic countries, the Ukraine, the federated republics of the former Yugoslavia? How can it take one stand internationally outside the country and another here in the House for Quebec?
They who have so much to say about consensus and clarity, do they not see a great consensus in Quebec within our civil society, among all parties represented in the Quebec national assembly, even federalist parties, among the vast majority of members from Quebec who were democratically elected to this House, within the Progressive Conservative Party, I suppose, and I hope within the NDP, which recognized Quebec's right to self-determination? Those are the ones who are on the side of democracy, but this government just ignores them.
Who do we find on the other side, on the side of the Prime Minister's Liberals? The Reform Party, which has a great presence in Quebec and a good understanding of Quebecers, Guy Bertrand, Bill Johnson, Keith Anderson, Howard Galganov. Is that the Liberal consensus in Quebec? Is that their great consensus?
How did we get to this point? Because support for sovereignty went from 8% in the 1960s to 49.6% in 1995. In his 35 year career the Prime Minister will have seen sovereignty surge like never before in our history. Seeing this incredible surge and unable to propose anything to Quebec, he thinks the best thing to do is to prevent Quebecers from making a decision.
Nothing can resist the will of the people. Quebecers will not give in to Ottawa and will remain masters of their own destiny. Someday we will see two peoples who respect each other, who appreciate each other and who do not prevent each other from going forward in the direction they each want to follow.
I move:
That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the word “That” and substituting the following:
“this House declines to give second reading to Bill C-20, an act to give effect to the requirement for clarity as set out in the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Quebec secession reference, because the bill contravenes the inalienable right of the Quebec people to decide freely their own future.”
Someday Quebec will be sovereign. Canada can certainly count on that.