Mr. Speaker, my colleague has been very eloquent and has put the finger on the problem.
Indeed, yesterday the cat was let out of the bag. When the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs said that, whether the question is clear or not, he does not want Quebecers to decide democratically on sovereignty, what is the point of introducing a bill?
It is not the question and its outcome that bother the government, and particularly the little member for Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. What bothers him is the content. What bothers him is the possibility that Quebec might become a sovereign country.
Besides, that man has changed his mind. Here is what the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs had to say in 1994. He said that the 1995 referendum was sufficiently clear.
Still in 1994, he added “Ottawa's insistence on using the term separation in the question has no basis in law”.
The third thing he said, again in 1994, was “Ultimately, the terms sovereignty, independence, separation and secession are synonymous”.
Today he tells us “We will consider the clarity of the question, the terms used, so that they are the real terms, secession, the breakup of Canada”. If these are not scare tactics, I do not know what is.
Let us be frank. This is what is going on on the other side of the House, as we have seen and as Quebecers will see as we bring all this out. Let them admit that they have just sold out Quebec, that they are going to prevent it from using a democratic process to attain its independence. Let them admit it. That is the real purpose of this bill. This is the beginning of the pre-referendum campaign and the scare-mongering. They are telling Quebecers that they will not have the backing of the law if they answer this question.
What is even sadder, and we saw this recently, is that during the 30-day period after they have forced the question out of the national assembly, they will debate the clarity of the question when Quebec is already fully launched into a referendum campaign.
Yes, it is sad. We will be right in the middle of a democratic process and these people will be imposing a process on us that smacks of apartheid.