Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for leaving me so much time to answer his questions, for having gone on and on about something that I had nothing to say about, and for pointing out in his own procedurally quirky way the absence of people that he is not supposed to point out the absence of.
With respect to the last question, I know what the member is up to. He wants me to say it is a clear question. Then he is going to point out that 50% plus one is enough for that, and then he is going to extrapolate from there that 50% plus one is good enough for any other referendum.
Of course, what is debatable here is whether a referendum having to do with the secession of a province like Quebec is in fact a qualitatively different kind of referendum, and whether 50% plus one is all that would be required. That is part of the debate that is going on in committee.
There are people in all parties who feel that 50% plus one is the standard, and there are people who do not. Whether it comes to be something that is actually in the bill, or whether amendments are moved to that effect, we shall see.
The member also brought up this genetic, biological argument, which I think was unfortunate. The fact of the matter is that, yes, voters in my riding, voters in Prince Edward Island, which I think he also mentioned, voters everywhere in Canada ought to have a say through their parliament about what the conditions would be which would obligate them to negotiate the secession of a province that contains some 10 million of their fellow citizens from their country.
As far as I am concerned that is self-evident. I do not think we are non-participating spectators in the process that would break up our country. I am sorry, but I have to disagree with my colleague from the Bloc. I think that all Canadians have a say in what conditions would create an obligation on the part of their government to negotiate the secession of a particular province from Canada, and I make no apologies for that.
Quebecers have their rights too. This relates to the other thing the member said. He was listing members from Quebec and why they have not said anything. He believes that in order to be a true Quebecer one has to agree with him. These other people who have not spoken up in favour of the position he advocates, they are somehow not true and real Quebecers. I think this is one of the more despicable elements of the way the Bloc members conduct themselves with respect to this debate, that somehow people who do not agree with them are not real Quebecers.
I allow for a Canada in which Quebecers can defend their right, not the right of the rest of Canada, but their right to have a clear question and a clear majority, their right not to be snookered by a separatist government that has a strategy to get them into the lobster pot that Jacques Parizeau described.
That is a democratic principle which respects the rights of all Quebec citizens and not just the rights of sovereignists and separatists to cleave to their own particular strategy.