Madam Speaker, I want to comment on what my Conservative colleague said, because he quoted the British North America Act in the speech he just gave.
To strengthen his argument, he read excerpts from that act as though it were truth or fact. There is one point in particular that I would like to raise. He mentioned that the British North America Act was created by mutual agreement and that it was born of the will of the four founding provinces, namely Lower Canada, or Quebec, Upper Canada, or Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
I do not know whether my colleague is aware of this, but that act was actually born of an alliance between Cartier's Conservatives and the Liberals and Conservatives of Upper Canada. Les Rouges of Lower Canada, or Quebec, were strongly opposed to it. Nova Scotia was also strongly opposed. It even voted unanimously against this infamous British North America Act, but that was never taken into consideration by London. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia sent a delegation to London to negotiate a different treaty than the one that was imposed.
The reality is that this is a colonial law that was never put to a vote by the people. Can my colleague concede that?