They are considered minors, immature children who need adult guides such as the federal Liberals and the federalists in general, children who need guardians and those supreme possessors of the truth, which the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Prime Minister and the federalists in general are, to help them make a free choice within a democratic system.
In short, the federalists in this House have turned into the neo-colonialists of Canada. They have become the leaders of what is becoming more and more like a banana republic, who are all excited at the prospect of crushing those whom they still consider the “white niggers of America”, to borrow the expression of Pierre Vallières.
I have a bit of news for them. The Quebec people are too proud to stand for such treatment. The Quebec people are too proud to allow themselves to be crushed. They will stand up against this with the help of the Bloc Quebecois here in this Chamber.
In order to be certain that my message is properly understood I will quote, if I may, two excerpts in English from statements made by René Lévesque in May 1980 after the Quebec referendum and by Robert Bourassa after the failure of the Meech Lake agreement.
Regardless of the result... it is now undisputed and indisputable that Quebec constitutes a distinct national community able to choose its constitutional status for itself, without outside interference. This right to control their own national destiny is the most fundamental right the people of Quebec possess.
That is the end of the quote from Mr. Lévesque's statement of June 11, 1980, after the first Quebec referendum.
After that came the failure of the Meech Lake agreement, in which considered Quebec as something very minor, a distinct society, but rejected totally by Canada. Not only was there the death kiss of Clyde Wells and the actions of the present Prime Minister, but Canada too rejected this minimal agreement. In economics we say “minimum minimorum”, and there is nothing smaller than that.
Here is what Mr. Bourassa had to say after the failure of Meech.
“English Canada must clearly understand that no matter what anyone says or does, Quebec is and always will be a distinct society that is free and able to control its own destiny and its own development”.
Those are the words of Mr. Bourassa. In other words, Quebec alone will decide its future and neither the people across the way nor the English Canadians are going to come and tell us how to vote in the next referendum on sovereignty.
When the Prime Minister is faulted for this, he who has been involved in dirty dealings with Quebec since the beginning of his political career, that little guy from Shawinagan, the member for Saint-Maurice, he always comes back with the same quote, which we have heard a good 40 times in the 6 years we have been dealing with him: only the weak resort to insults.
I agree with him on that, and I would point out that if that is so then he must be very weak indeed. Do you know why? On five significant occasions during his political career, this man insulted millions of Quebecers. He insulted them all.
First, in 1980 Quebecers were told that to say no to the referendum on sovereignty was to say yes to renewed federalism. We found out later on what it really meant. It was a pack of lies. This man was involved in this first fight against Quebec's legitimate aspirations.
Then in 1981 there was the night of the long knives. Taking advantage of the absence of Quebecers, especially Mr. Lévesque, the current Prime Minister plotted against Quebec in the kitchens of the Château Laurier Hotel together with representatives of other provinces—it has been called the night of the long knives—to isolate Quebec, to hurt it again. Already they were talking about unilaterally patriating the constitution. This was the second insult to Quebecers.
The third insult came in 1982 when the Canadian constitution was indeed patriated in spite of the nearly unanimous opposition of the national assembly. This was yet another insult to Quebecers.
In 1990 there was the failure of Meech Lake. The other day I heard the Prime Minister say “I was not there”. Negotiations were going on and this charming gentleman was standing in the corridor talking on his cellphone to Sharon Carstairs, the then leader of the opposition in the Manitoba legislature, who was fighting tooth and nail against the Meech Lake accord.
A few weeks after the failure of Meech Lake, he embraced Clyde Wells. I do not know if he embraced him for reasons other than his fierce opposition to the Meech Lake accord and his crusade against Quebecers. If so, he should tell us.
In 1997, during the referendum on sovereignty, he organized an extraordinary love-in saying once again “Quebecers, you will be recognized if you vote no to sovereignty”. What happened since 1997? They still spit on Quebec and people across the way still work against Quebec. The same man is once again insulting millions of Quebecers.
Finally, in December 1999, this month, the little guy from Shawinigan found the worst insult possible by putting seven million Quebecers under some form of custody, under mandatory supervision, as if they were cheaters, dishonest people whose enlightened choice of sovereignty was a crime.
How weak must the Prime Minister be to resort to such measures. As the old saying goes: insults are the weak man's weapons. Since the beginning of his political career he has constantly insulted millions of Quebecers.
Considering this bill in light of the way parliament and the governor in council operate and thinking of the influence enjoyed by the Prime Minister's Office and the Prime Minister himself, we have to ask ourselves if this man is a megalomaniac. Is it possible for such a man, under our current political system, to have exceptional power and a veto on the future of Quebecers, on the future of a whole nation?
It is the Prime Minister's office that decides. This means that under this process, under this bill that sets so many strict criteria for recognizing the result of a referendum or the clarity of a question, it is the Prime Minister, the little guy from Shawinigan, who will decide the future of seven million Quebecers. This cannot be. I cannot believe that we have reached that point in Canada, that we have practically become a banana republic, that the destiny of a whole people will be determined by one person.
Once again we have news for the Prime Minister. He may think and do what he wants but he will never prevent Quebecers from controlling their destiny, from choosing in a free and democratic way. There is nothing more democratic than the election and referendum process in Quebec. These people will not decide for Quebecers.
There are rather interesting things, particularly in international law. Among others, there is the 1975 Helsinki charter signed by former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. What does that charter say? It says that participating states, those that signed the charter, including Canada:
—respect the equal rights of peoples and their right to self-determination, acting at all times in conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
By virtue of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, all peoples always have the right, in full freedom, to determine, when and as they wish, their internal and external political status, without external interference, and to pursue as they wish their political, economic, social and cultural development.
The participating States reaffirm the universal significance of respect for and effective exercise of equal rights and self-determination of peoples for the development of friendly relations among themselves as among all States; they also recall the importance of the elimination—
Canada signed that agreement and we are lucky enough to have not only that charter but a whole series of international laws that make it easier for people to achieve sovereignty. In Quebec, we are also lucky to have 44 Bloc Quebecois members who, contrary to the 74 federal Liberal members elected in 1982, will stand up and fight against a government that has the audacity to deprive Quebec of its freedom and to restrict its democratic spirit.