Mr. Speaker, I do not want to cast a shadow on the enthusiasm of our colleague from Palliser, who was saying he was honoured to be among the last speakers in this final hour of this last day of this session, which, it seems, will end today and, in all probability, will be prorogued.
Right off, since he will not unfortunately be the last speaker in this last hour of this final day since fate decrees that I will probably be the last speaker, I must unfortunately tell him that the Bloc Quebecois will not support his motion, not because it is not a good one, not because the reasons for it are not praiseworthy or reasonable, since they are. The reasons underlying this motion are totally credible, reasonable and honorable under the circumstances.
However, I think it is appropriate to clarify things to some extent and to explain why the Bloc will unfortunately not support the motion.
In terms of provisions, there seems to be a problem in the text of the motion itself which provides “Political parties should refrain”. First, they use the conditional, which means that the motion as such will not truly be binding. Second, there is the choice of the verb “refrain”. This is not a very strong verb and does not say that we must not do so but rather that we must avoid doing so. In my opinion, this motion is not as rigid and restrictive as it ought to be.
Furthermore, I can well understand that the hon. member drafted this motion in response to a problem that arose in the last election campaign. A lady was greatly surprised to find not only her image but her words as well being used without her authorization in an advertisement. The political advertisement was for the Reform Party.
After this rather particular case, we came to realize that, for our fellow citizens, being used in a campaign can indeed cause a problem.
I should state right off that there is a distinction between ordinary citizens and public figures. When men and women decide to get involved in public life, they are agreeing to the widespread use of their picture, their name and their words, and to some extent this cannot be controlled.
It must be acknowledged that during an election campaign it goes without saying that we can use the image and words of public figures. This motion does not take that into account.
Nor does it take into account the fact that in an election campaign there are frequently photographs or videos with a scan over a crowd or of us standing in front of large numbers of people behind us. It is virtually objectively and logistically impossible to ask each and every one of those persons to authorize their inclusion in a promotional photo or video for the party in question.
I think that where we see eye to eye with the member for Palliser is when he tries to ensure that we cannot use the image or the words of individuals as promotional tools, such as making them appear to say things they did not actually say or take a stand they did not necessarily take. We could agree with him on that.
Unfortunately, as it now stands, the motion before us does not allow this sort of distinction. It is too general. It is not sufficiently enforceable. For all these reasons, therefore, as I pointed out earlier, we will be voting against the motion.
I would like to point out that the Bloc Quebecois is opposed to this motion not because we feel that it is legitimate to take the images or words of our fellow citizens and, as I mentioned earlier, have them appear to be saying things they did not necessarily say, or take stands they did not necessarily take.
That is not the case. During the last election campaign, the Bloc Quebecois obtained written authorization from everyone who appeared in any of its campaign advertising. So it is not because we oppose the actual principles underlying this motion. As I said earlier, those principles are entirely laudable and legitimate.
The problem is that the wording of the motion does not remove this obligation in the case of public personalities who have allowed their image and words to be broadly disseminated without requiring authorization, nor does it remove it in the case of people who might be included in a crowd scene, and it is virtually unfeasible to seek the authorization of each and every member of a crowd.
For all these reasons, and with a certain twinge of regret, I must tell the member for Palliser that we are unable to support his motion but that we find the underlying principles entirely laudable.
Like other members, I would not want to fail to wish all of my colleagues a fine summer. Contrary to what our fellow Canadians may think at times, when we say that the work of the House adjourns in mid June or at the end of June when they think “You are on holiday”, we know full well that we have a lot of work ahead of us in our individual ridings.
We will be spending an enormous amount of time with our constituents, which unfortunately we do not have the time to do between September and June. Over the summer, we will have an opportunity to meet them, to travel around our ridings, to take part in events there and to be with these people who have put their trust in us and deserve an opportunity to discuss a whole series of current event issues with their representatives in this House.
I wish a fine summer to each of you. Perhaps during this period, we will each find a few days to spend with our near and dear ones.
I wish you all a good vacation and especially, a fine summer in your ridings.