Mr. Speaker, when Mr. Facal, the Quebec minister of intergovernmental affairs, testified before the committee examining Bill C-20, he reminded the members of the committee that this bill served simply to, and I quote:
—obscure the Canadian problem, forgetting that more Quebecers voted yes than there are voters in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island combined. Bill C-20 will not get rid of the sovereignists or the idea that Quebec will become a country some day.
He continued:
The National Assembly is the sole custodian of the right of the people of Quebec to decide its political status. Quebec existed as a political entity before the Canadian federation was created and by exercising its right to choose its political status freely it helped to create Canada in 1867. Never forget that.
He concluded as follows:
In joining this federation, the people of Quebec neither renounced its right to chose another political status nor intended to hand over its destiny for all time to a parliament the majority of whose members come from outside Quebec.