Mr. Speaker, shortly before the first referendum, on May 14, 1980, at the Centre Paul-Sauvé, the Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, made this statement:
...we, the Québec MPs, are laying ourselves on the line, because we are telling Quebeckers to vote NO and telling you in the other provinces that we will not agree to your interpreting a NO vote as an indication that everything is fine...we are willing to lay our seats in the House on the line...
What was the outcome? Quebec had a constitution shoved down its throat. We still have not signed it. Thirty-seven years later, things are still not fine.
Quebec is trapped in a straitjacket that is preventing us from spreading our wings. Ottawa is still trying to get us to fall in line. From one empty promise to the next, today's Liberal Party is the same as the old party, and its 40 phantom members are still not standing up for our interests, just like in the old days.
Je me souviens. I remember.