Madam Speaker, it might be good to remember what John A. Macdonald said in 1864, three years before confederation in 1867, in terms of his vision for Canada. He said Canada would have:
A strong central government, a powerful central legislature and a decentralized system of small legislatures for strictly local purposes.
That is one of Canada's great founders' view of Canada. We end up with this will to centralize which has left its mark, unlike the will to make changes; we end up with this will to continue on the momentum of centralization to form an increasingly unified Canada.
We saw the new Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs arrive on the scene. He had a very specific mandate from the Prime Minister, since this minister was also President of the Privy Council. He had to run things, ensure order and put Quebec back in its place.
And the minister gladly did just that—everyone knows it—with, first, the clarity bill in 1999. It was a direct attack on the rights and sovereignty of the Quebec National Assembly in terms of its right to ask the people of Quebec any question it wants.
Then, still in 1999, there came the social union agreement. It was signed by 9 of the 10 Canadian provinces and the federal government; the Government of Quebec, then led by Lucien Bouchard, chose not to sign.
For the benefit of those who would doubt the seriousness of this agreement, I shall simply quote two constitutional experts who have written articles in a monograph on constitutionalism. They wrote about this social union agreement. This book is called The Canadian Social Union without Quebec: 8 Critical Analyses and is published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy. First I shall quote Mr. André Binette, a well known constitutional expert who says:
The 1981 constitutional agreement and the social union agreement are the major and minor aspects of the same proposition: Canada cannot continue to coexist with the identity of Quebec. Canada is less and less capable of defining itself in view of Quebec's aspirations and will to achieve autonomy. Although the social union agreement was created in less dramatic circumstances than the 1981 constitutional blockbuster, its effects are more concrete and more damaging to Quebec's aspirations.
That is what Mr. Binette said.
Another eminent constitutional expert, André Tremblay, has written an article in the same monograph. In my opinion, this passage, this stance taken by a constitutional expert, is an important aspect, and I quote:
For the first time in the history of intergovernmental relations, the provinces, with the exception of Quebec, have confirmed and recognized the legitimacy of the power to spend and have given Ottawa carte blanche to intervene in all exclusively provincial spheres of jurisdiction.
He continues:
The agreement of February 4 [, 1999,] provides all the leverage and all the tools for centralization, and reduces our Quebec specificity. The federal government is crowned supreme and the provinces become its branches or franchises.
What the social union agreement means in practice is that the federal government has grabbed some powers and new responsibilities and that these have been recognized. That is what is new. There is no more debate and argument among the provinces, because Canada's provinces have bowed to the pressure of the moment and the historical pressure of the central government. They have abdicated. Only Quebec has refused to get on board the bandwagon.
In short, the following is involved: recognition of the legitimacy of the federal spending power; equality of the provinces among themselves, Quebec being considered a province like all of the others; no recognition of the Quebec people, as well as no recognition of the concept of two founding peoples.
From now on, the federal government can deal directly with organizations or individuals without any consideration for provincial jurisdictions, even in areas of exclusive provincial jurisdiction. This means that it will now be dealing with municipalities, hospitals, universities, CLSCs, research centres, volunteer organizations and so on. Its presence will be felt increasingly, but we will come back to that later.
Another aspect is that the provinces will have to come to an agreement with Ottawa to establish new programs in their own jurisdictions and soon meet national standards set by Ottawa. The provinces will also have to account to the federal government for their management of certain programs, while the reverse will not be true. Furthermore, it will be up to the provinces to prove that they are managing the programs in question properly.
Finally, and this is the crux of the motion, no province will be authorized to opt out with financial compensation if it turns down a federal program and wants to establish its own. This seems to me to be central to the social union agreement.
Why is it despicable? Why do we feel compelled condemn this agreement today? Because Quebec is not a province, and above all, it is unlike any other province. Quebec is a people, a nation and, therefore, the right-thinking federalists should lead the fight to ensure that, in this country so dear to their hearts, Quebec is recognized as a distinct society. That was the expression used by the Prime Minister himself, but he had to backtrack when he realized that the rest of Canada was not on board.
Where are we headed for in this Quebec and Canada, if not toward recognizing Quebec's distinctiveness and giving it the special powers that go with it? We are moving literally and very quickly toward an increasingly centralized and unitary Canada.
The intention behind this attitude is clearly articulated by the Privy Council. Anyone who is monitoring closely the situation can tell. The result will be that there will be only one national government in Canada and that Quebec's claims in this respect will be eliminated over the next few years or, at most, the next few decades.
This then is the whole issue for Quebeckers: to properly understand the game, the manoeuvres, going on here in Ottawa, day in and day out, week after week, ever since the referendum of 1995. In my opinion, this government has neither legitimacy nor mandate, has not carried out any consultations, and most particularly has not carried out any referendum authorizing it to act so cavalierly, thereby downplaying the distinct character of Quebec. Quebec is a people. It is a nation. Quebec, despite its status as a province, has considerable influence in the international community.
These are not empty words. What does the reference to an unprecedented offensive aimed at making Canada into a centralized and unitary state mean? I will give you a whole list of all the initiatives the federal government has taken without any mandate to do so.
There is the millennium scholarship foundation, the young offenders legislation, the rural policy, the policy on the volunteer and community sector, the national agricultural development strategy, the university chairs, the national strategy on end of life care, the privacy legislation, the national standards on admission to the medical profession, the national strategy on technological innovation for training, the federal rules for environmental assessment, the endangered species legislation, the potential power to divert Quebec Rivers in the St. Lawrence watershed, the sponsorship program—that never ending saga—the planned multitude of cultural funding initiatives, although culture is exclusively a Quebec jurisdiction, the coming national securities commission, the potential national health insurance system, the planned national identity card so dear to the heart of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, the program for funding post-secondary research, the national housing strategy for the homeless, the early childhood program, the program for marine conservation areas. Our list could go on all night.
That makes no sense.
It would be better to discuss whether this government was transparent and had the courage of its convictions. Whether the Prime Minister, the member for Saint-Maurice, the member for LaSalle—Émard, the Minister of Justice—all Quebeckers—had the courage to explain to Quebeckers that their plan in 20, 25, 30 years is to make education, health and social programs belong exclusively to the federal government, to say, that is their vision for the Canada of tomorrow and that is Quebec's place in the Canada they dream of.
I think that if people had the courage of their convictions and the intellectual honesty to talk about their daily actions, there would be a lot of problems in future elections. But, since people hide their intentions and do not have the courage to tell Quebeckers what they intend to do, they can still go to Quebec with a semblance of dignity while Quebec disappears slowly but surely.
Just look at our demographic weight compared to our political weight. There were 294 members in this House in 1993, 301 members in 2000 and there will be 308 members in 2004. There is no new seat for Quebec, while Canada will have almost 13 more. We have not even talked about globalization, where the sovereign Government of Canada will increasingly make decisions that will affect all the provinces, or those that remain, and that will have an impact on the daily life of the people of Quebec, putting its destiny at stake.