Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on the motion of the Bloc Quebecois ordering the legislative committee studying Bill C-20 to hold public hearings in all regions of Quebec and Canada so as to hear as many witnesses as possible having an interest in this bill, and expressing other considerations.
It is important to explain to Quebecers and Canadians why the Bloc Quebecois, with the support of all opposition parties, is so vocal in its condemnation not only of the so-called clarity bill but also of the process whereby this bill will be rushed through the House.
In the short time I have, I will speak of the content of the bill as well as of the accelerated process. This bill, which is entitled—we have no choice but to say it, as but we find that it is not well named—an act to give effect to the requirement for clarity. For the record, this bill was born under the influence of the instigator of the government's plan B, in the days following the referendum where the yes side almost won.
In short, plan B was the stick while plan A, which we have heard little about, was supposed to be the carrot, a very small, transparent, translucent, genetically engineered carrot we have not often seen.
What we have been hearing about, since the 1995 referendum, which was almost won but was unfortunately lost, is plan B. When history is written, it will be clear that plan B was developed at the instigation of the current Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
It is interesting to remind the House that, as early as 1992, this minister, then a professor, gave advice to Premier Bourassa, saying that “Mr. Bourassa must draw the conclusions from these endless negotiations that are leading nowhere. He must come to the defence of Canada such as it is today and tell Quebecers that constitutional amendments will not happen in the foreseeable future, even if it means telling Quebecers that an economic association between an independent Quebec and the rest of Canada would be equally improbable”.
The current Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, realizing that Canada would never follow up on what has been called the traditional demands, or the set of Quebec demands, which were taken up by Claude Ryan, Bourassa and others, said “Since we cannot change it, let us be content with it. Let us be happy. Let us say that we have is good”. But it was not enough because there had been this referendum with a 49.9% yes vote.
What should he do? He had to find the means to scare these proud Gallics from Quebec. To scare them, he developed a scheme and figured it ought to go through the supreme court. He personally put questions to the supreme court, urging it to render a decision on Quebec's right to unilaterally secede. Never did the Quebec plan involve a unilateral declaration of independence or secession.
In spite of the carefully crafted questions put by the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, in one part of its opinion, the supreme court said something he did not like: a clear majority on a clear question would require Canada to negotiate. If I am digressing here it is because, through the bill, the minister is getting rid of the only part of the supreme court's opinion that he did not like, that is, the obligation to negotiate.
What does this famous so-called clarity bill do? First, it says that a majority of 50% plus one, which has always been understood in Quebec law as being sufficient to determine if a referendum has been won, is not enough. But it does not say what the majority should be. It only says that the government would consult here and there, and could decide that the majority the referendum got is not sufficient and not clear enough.
What does the bill say about the question? It talks about what the question should not include to get the federal government to negotiate. In fact, it is the federal government, at the instigation of its Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, that would choose the topic of the question. However, this is not included in any way, shape or form in the supreme court's opinion.
We too sought the opinion of a leading expert, in the person of Alain Pellet, a professor at Université de Paris-Nanterre, who is a member and former chair of the UN International Law Commission. He said the following:
It follows that a clear question on something else than secession [...] would not be incompatible with current international law. Neither the supreme court's opinion nor the draft bill introduced on December 10, 1999, if passed, would preclude asking such a question.
The government wants to be able to choose the topic of the question and what the majority should be. And there is more. This government, whose bill provides for every legislative assembly in Canada, the Senate and everyone who has an opinion to be consulted on the question, is ramming this bill through the House, and not allowing the committee to travel and listen to Quebecers and Canadians who, for years, have been emotionally involved in this very important debate on what is called, in Canada, national unity, and in Quebec, the national issue. It will not let the committee go and hear them.
So it proposes a bill that gives it extraordinary leeway and provides that it consult everybody, but there can be no consultation before passing it.
As a member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development, I toured Canada for two months; we travelled to 22 cities, where we listened to Canadians and Quebecers from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., for two or three days at a time, before tabling a report which was shelved.
The government is acting in an irresponsible, shocking and provocative manner on a bill that will play a key role in the future of both Quebecers and Canadians. But I think that, in acting this way, it also undermines the significance of this bill. Who will give credit and legitimacy to a bill passed like this?
The government itself is undermining the position that it wanted to be so strong, and Quebecers will not be fooled by this bogus exercise.