Richard Marceau

[Committees Of The House, February 14th, 2000]

moved that the second report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade presented on Thursday, December 16, 1999, be concurred in.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today but, unfortunately, we will have to explain to those who are listening to us how business is conducted in this parliament.

We often hear that it is a parliament that works in a very democratic fashion, that everyone has an opportunity to rise and to express his or her views, but this is completely false.

We know full well, and most parliamentarians in this House agree, that since it first came here, in 1993, the Bloc Quebecois has been very serious and open during the proceedings of this House and of all of its committees. I feel we have made an effective and constructive contribution, as was pointed out many times in the House and elsewhere.

However, the situation deteriorated a great deal when the report on the Export Development Corporation was tabled. Let me briefly explain to what happened. The last meeting of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade on the EDC was held on December 14, a few hours before the government decided to adjourn the House until February 7.

The House adjourned well before the scheduled date, probably because the government was so embarrassed by the fact that Bill C-20 was an insult to the democratic rights of Quebecers and by the uproar caused in Quebec by the introduction of this legislation.

This key element in the debate is of concern to us today because it eloquently shows the Liberal government's contempt not only for the population as a whole, but also for the legislative process and the work of this House.

On behalf of the Bloc Quebecois and Quebecers as a whole, I accuse the Liberal government, especially the Liberal members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, of having acted in bad faith with regard to the last segment of the review of the Export Development Act.

As I said earlier, the Bloc Quebecois has always been very open and has contributed to the smooth running of House proceedings. However, on December 14 things changed for the worse.

I must deplore and condemn in the strongest possible terms the cavalier, contemptuous and expeditious attitude of the Liberal majority, based on more than dubious procedural considerations, which, in collusion with the Reform Party, approved the report now before the House.

In view of the significance of this report and the time the committee spent listening to the many witnesses who enlightened its members, it is unacceptable that the report was adopted in less than 10 minutes. You heard right, Mr. Speaker, it took the chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs less than 10 minutes to have the report adopted.

[Points Of Order, February 10th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I have here a document which my friends across the way will certainly find interesting.

It is a quotation from the memoirs of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the former Prime Minister of Canada and the mentor of the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

I ask for the unanimous consent of the House to table the document.

[Point Of Order, February 7th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I do hope you will hear me out. Following the recent tabling of Bill C-20, I have here an exceptionally important document, a presentation by the city of Val-d'Or to the Commission sur l'avenir politique et constitutionnel du Québec.

I seek the unanimous consent of the House to table it.

[Bill C-20, February 7th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Canadians and Quebecers concerned about respect for the rules of democracy, the Bloc Quebecois would ask the Liberal government to be reasonable and to hold broad public hearings on the controversial Bill C-20.

This government, which prides itself on seeking clarity, must recognize that democrats want to be heard on this bill.

Even today, many stakeholders and interested parties in Quebec and Canadian society are calling on the government to be transparent and to respect democracy. They are calling for the most comprehensive hearings possible to ensure their democratic right and basic freedom of expression are not threatened.

It would be far more preferable for the government to withdraw its hateful bill. Should it decide to proceed, it must not silence the people of Quebec and Canada in the process.

[Bill C-20, December 17th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, will the minister not admit that, under the pretext of clarity, he is expressing with this bill his intolerance of Quebec's undertaking and is sowing the seeds of confusion, by setting the conditions for the next referendum in advance, when he has absolutely no business setting such conditions?

[Bill C-20, December 17th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the speech by the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs on the conditions for recognition of the next Quebec referendum has added far more to people's confusion, rather than dispelling it.

How can the minister seriously claim that the Quebec National Assembly retains its freedom to draft the question of its choice, when, in the same breath, he is saying that, if the question is not to his liking, he will not follow up on it?

[Points Of Order, December 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, I have here an article published in the December 11, 1999 issue of La Presse stating that a simple majority of 50% plus one is sufficient anywhere in Canada except when it comes to Quebec. I ask for unanimous consent to table this document.

[Points Of Order, December 15th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, to your great surprise and total amazement I am sure, I have here an article published in the December 11, 1999 issue of La Presse —

[Points Of Order, December 14th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, last night I was a guest on a television program of the parliamentary channel CPAC. The hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine was also invited. Unfortunately, she was afraid to show up.

I ask for the unanimous consent of the House to table the transcript of that television program at which she was afraid to show up.

[Points Of Order, December 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I have here an article by an excellent journalist who is following our debate from the press gallery today, Graham Fraser. I ask for the unanimous consent of the House to table this article.