Mr. Speaker, the filmmaker and pamphleteer Pierre Falardeau, a man committed to the sovereignist struggle from the beginning of his involvement in the early 1960s, lost the ultimate battle, the battle against cancer, last Friday night.
All of his films, including 15 février 1839, Octobre, Party and the renowned Elvis Gratton, indeed, his entire work is marked not only by his full and total commitment to this ideal of sovereignty, but also by the fear of seeing his fellow Quebeckers completely Americanized.
An uncompromising man, a crusader for freedom, known for speaking his mind and for his strong opinions, he refused to be described as an intellectual, although Camus, La Boétie and Memmi, to name a few, were sources of inspiration for him.
One may not agree with all the opinions of this free-thinking man or how he chose to express them, but we must commend his efforts to remind Quebeckers that they are a nation.
Pierre Falardeau's work, which is now part of history, will always be there to remind us.