Mr. Speaker, I must admit that I thought of you when I was preparing the notes for my speech, because I am sure that when you ran for politics for the first time, it was to serve.
I think everyone in the House is here to serve, according to their values and their convictions, and with an openness to doubt, which is always a very healthy intellectual experience.
One of my convictions, perhaps the most important one in politics, is a people's right to self-determination. A nation is better at serving itself. A nation is better at serving its seniors. A nation is better at serving its business owners, farmers, artists, fishers, students, environment and researchers. It also holds all the power. It has the characteristics of sovereignty.
I think that a people starts out sovereign. It then chooses what it will do with that sovereignty: only more power for some, but all the power for others. That is true if the nation is not deprived of its rights. Since today is October 1, my thoughts go out to our Catalan friends, who were denied their independence three years ago today.
Canada is not the worst country in the world. Quebec is not yet a country, and it would not be the best of countries, but it would be ours. I am confident that the day after a positive vote by Quebecers, if not the same evening or even within a few minutes, Ottawa would call Quebec City and ask to stay friends. Of course, Quebec City would say yes, because we would stay close. In the meantime, since Quebec is not a country today, we are doing the best we can in the system we are stuck with.
I assume that that is what the Prime Minister is doing. Clearly we do not serve the same masters. What divides us is also quite clear: interference in the health care sector at the expense of Quebec and the provinces; marked differences in support to seniors, with the government suddenly deciding to start discriminating based on age; the claim of a green stimulus package, which, when we look closely, actually contains support for the oil industry in the west; and broken promises to farmers. There are many other examples.
The Bloc Québécois went through its own process. It developed a truly green recovery plan. It toured Quebec, first virtually, then in person. What we put forward, and anyone can check this for themselves, is much clearer and more precise than the government's throne speech. What is in our plan is what Quebeckers chose. This was not a partisan exercise. Our goal is not to suggest that the people who participated in the process support the Bloc Québécois. Now the Bloc is taking action.
In a way, this is the Bloc Québécois's own inaugural speech, a speech for our own republic, which would not displease us. We recognize that we are an opposition party. We make proposals. If Quebec listens to them and supports them, they will be very hard to ignore. It will be hard to start ignoring Quebec again, to ignore our only national parliament, the National Assembly of Quebec.
Our proposal and the throne speech differ in many respects. There are intrinsic differences, of course. There is the fact that the Bloc Québécois does not believe in the monarchy—more on that later. There is the fact that we condemn the government's decision to prorogue as well as its throne speech and solemn message to the nation, neither of which contained anything of substance. We deplore the Prime Minister's heritage, which is one of centralization. We deplore Canada's love for John A. Macdonald at a time when we condemn racism on a daily basis.
We condemn the colonial legacy. After all, the conquest remains unfinished.
The provinces asked for an increase to health transfers to bring the total federal share of health care funding to 35%. No one, not in Quebec or in the provinces, asked for the federal government to interfere. The government arrogantly responded that it was better than the provinces, that Quebec is just Quebec and the provinces are just the provinces. Canada claims to be better than us.
Can anyone name one thing that a Canadian can do that a Quebecker cannot? The federal government just has more money because of its Constitution, which, after all, is a legacy. Canada can cut the transfers. Canada is richer because of our own money.
The government has mentioned sending in the army. October 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the October crisis. Canada in 1970, the Canada of the then Prime Minister, sent in the army, claiming an insurrection to overturn, they said, the Government of Quebec. It was a mighty insurrection of fewer than 40 militants.
I am against all forms of violence. We are against all forms of violence. The imprisonment of 500 Quebeckers was violent. The questioning of thousands of others was violent. I am waiting for the condemnation of that violence too. Where are the apologies to the 500 Quebec families?
No one is asking for an apology to the FLQ cells, not even the son of Paul Rose, Félix, who is a very talented filmmaker and does Quebec proud.
The FLQ cells were merely a pretext. We are demanding an apology for the Prime Minister of Canada's decision to temporarily turn Quebec into a military state. You cannot imagine how proud the 32 sovereignist members are to rise in the Parliament of Canada 50 years after the October Crisis, during which a large element meant to suppress us.
Where are the apologies to the Acadians who were deported? Where are the apologies to Louis Riel and the Métis, while John A. Macdonald continues to be celebrated? Among whited sepulchres, apologies are reserved for non-francophones. After all, the Prime Minister runs Her Majesty's government, and the conquest is not yet complete.
This modern style of colonialism can take many forms. Quebec wants to increase the use of French at work. The Liberals claim to do better, but their version of better is to set the French language back. Quebec wants to make federally regulated businesses subject to Bill 101. I challenge the government to refrain from opposing it.
Quebec is demanding that the federal government respect its jurisdictions. The NDP is not Quebec. The Conservatives are not Quebec. The Bloc Québécois is not Quebec. Only Quebec can speak for Quebec. Bloc members have no other allegiance.
The Bloc Québécois moved an amendment calling for the government to respect Quebec's jurisdiction over health care, to increase health transfers and to improve the lives of our seniors. After publicly saying they would support it—or at least they did in French—the NDP and the Conservatives voted against the Bloc Québécois's amendment. All those who voted against the amendment should do some soul searching.
I urge the government to tread very carefully before continuing to challenge Quebec. I cannot keep from mentioning the inevitable, the unavoidable and the shameful. I want to believe that Parliament is ashamed of what Canada's indigenous peoples are going through. We have to tell ourselves that, when it comes to the first nations, which are nations, we are one Parliament. The Prime Minister of Canada speaks for all those who are represented by this Parliament. For the time being, we should be ashamed to even face the first nations, especially this week and today.
I warn the government not to give in to the temptation to take away our privileges again with the help of the NDP, a party in trouble, and once again shut down Parliament. The NDP has chosen uncertain friends and allies in order to stay alive. The Bloc Québécois will vote against the Speech from the Throne. If this Parliament has any courage, the days of the current government are numbered. If some of us had courage, the hours of this government would be numbered.