Mr. Speaker, the fiasco surrounding the appointment of Justice Nadon to the Supreme Court illustrates the Conservatives' contempt for Quebec.
The Prime Minister thinks that judges from Quebec would be too progressive or too soft on criminals to sit on the country's highest court.
By stubbornly appointing a federal judge and, moreover, one with little experience in civil law, the Prime Minister is telling us that he could not care less about Quebec's civil law tradition. We already suspected this, though, since the Prime Minister once appointed a judge who was not fluent in French, which is another one of Quebec's fundamental characteristics.
Yesterday Quebec's premier took the Conservative government to task. He does not like how Quebec is being treated. This morning, the Minister of Justice, looking pitiful, said that he would honour Quebec's wishes. He could have saved face if he had just listened to Quebec's advice from the beginning.
Quebec has three seats on the country's highest court to ensure that its fundamental character is represented there.
Every time the Prime Minister tries to get around his obligations to Quebec and wipe away our differences, the NDP will stand in his way.