Mr. Speaker, I have here an article published in Le Devoir on January 27, entitled “Ontario after a Yes Vote”.
The article states:
After a three year legal saga, Toronto's Globe and Mail has obtained documents from Ontario's Department of Finance, in which an assessment is made of the impact for Ontario of a yes victory in the 1995 referendum.
What was presented as a series of studies is merely notes jotted down for use by the Department of Finance. These documents list the Quebec-Ontario agreements—very few of them, in fact—that would be in jeopardy as a result of Quebec sovereignty.
By using estimates already made by various experts, there was an attempt at determining potential losses of employment caused by the breakup. However, these documents do not have much value as estimates and are rather more speculative. For example, there is half a line on the involvement of the Canadian army, without any explanation.
It is estimated that sovereignty could result in the value of the Canadian dollar going down to between 65 cents and 70 cents U.S., something which is presented as a catastrophe.
Since these notes were written, the Canadian dollar has—