Mr. Speaker, the unity debate in Canada has surfaced again with a vengeance. Most Canadians are neither keen to open this subject nor ready for the arguments that follow. I feel the country has referendum or unity fatigue.
However, the Prime Minister has decided that there is no better time than now to clarify referendum rules so I will speak to the bill in the following way. First, I will speak to why the official opposition supports the basic principles behind the bill. Second, I will present some suggested changes. Third, I will suggest that there is a major missing component to the bill. Fourth, I will review the history to show how visionary the official opposition leader has been on unity.
Reform, as the official opposition, supports the bill because it does improve the chances that a referendum on secession by any province will be conducted fairly.
The bill lays out specific criteria for Canada's elected representatives to respect the principle of clarity. Is it reasonable to expect the question on such a serious matter as secession to deal with only that topic? I think so.
Is it reasonable for the question to specifically refer to a province “ceasing to be a part of Canada”? I think so as well.
These ideas are fundamentally fair. A province may ask any question of its population, but to be clear enough to divide a country the question cannot be ambiguous.
It is important to state that the province must propose the question and only the province can do that under our referendum law. No one else can provide the wording, but to have legitimacy everyone should be able to accept the result of a question posed that cannot be misunderstood.
A clear majority has also been referred to in the bill. On this point I also concur. I feel that a clear majority should be defined in such a way that no one could misunderstand exactly what that means. I will return to that point later.
I will now reflect on the changes that I think would improve the bill. First, there is the issue of a clear question. Since the subject is open to debate, I believe it would be wise to place a sample question in the bill as a suggestion to a province intending to hold a secession referendum. I stress the word suggestion. The following is the official opposition's sample question that meets our personal test of clarity.
“Should—the name of the province—separate from Canada and become an independent country with no special legal ties to Canada, yes or no?”
This is only a proposal. Why should sovereigntists oppose such a question?
Now to the somewhat more complex issue of the clear majority. The government treats this issue a bit like a poker game. Both the Prime Minister and the intergovernmental affairs minister have said that 50% plus one is not good enough. They then, however, hold their cards close to the vest and refuse to say what is good enough. I listened carefully to the arguments that state that this cannot be defined. However, this issue is not some tactical battle. It is not a poker game. It is an issue that involves millions of Canadians. I believe that the plain truth is always better than tactical strategy.
I will use a hockey analogy to show how I feel changing the rules can backfire and fail. In 1955 the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. What a team it was, so fast, so difficult to check. Jean Béliveau scored three goals during one penalty and it was determined that was too big an advantage. In 45 seconds there were three goals, a hat trick. That summer the rules of hockey were changed. A minor penalty was now to be terminated as soon as a goal was scored. This rule was changed for but one reason: to slow down this fast skating team from Montreal. The rule change failed. An even more determined Canadiens team went on to win four more consecutive Stanley Cups. The rule change backfired.
Let us fast forward to 1984. The Edmonton Oilers were then the dominant force, another fast, offensive oriented team. Coincidental minor penalties for four on four gave them an advantage. Four on three was even more of an advantage. They won the Stanley Cup in 1983-84. The rules were changed that summer so that coincidental minor penalties gave no advantage to this fast skating team. The rule change failed again. They went on to win three of the next four Stanley Cups, even more determined than before to overcome the rule change. Again the rule change backfired.
I believe changing the rules on a suitable majority could backfire as well. The last two referendums were run under 50% plus one.