Mr. Speaker, on Monday of this week the Bloc Quebecois, between points of order, the seeking of dozens of unanimous consents and the refusal to extend hours of debate created a clear impression that they are afraid of debating Bill C-20. We will see whether the Bloc members are still afraid of debate today, and I mean democratic debate in this Chamber.
On December 10, 1999 the member for Roberval spoke on this bill. I would like to devote a few minutes to some of his arguments.
The member for Roberval evoked 1982, he made reference to the so-called night of the long knives, and he evoked events about which very few are actually qualified to speak with credibility. One who is qualified is former Prime Minister Trudeau, who writes in “Against The Current”, a book edited by Gérard Pelletier, apropos of the night of the long knives:
During the 1980-82 constitutional exercise, the federal government proposed to cut the Gordian knot by arguing that the sovereignty of Canada ultimately resided neither in the provinces nor in the federal government, but in the Canadian people.
The provincial governments collectively rejected that view, even objecting to the use of the words “the people of Canada” in a preamble to the constitution, and proposing instead a description of Canada as a country made up of “provinces...freely united”, thus returning to the selfsame concept that had prevented patriation in 1927.
In his speech the member for Roberval went on to invoke democracy. He spoke of the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of Quebecers. Evidently he does not see democracy as an inclusive word for all citizens affected within the entire nation where a separation is being proposed. In fact, the sword of Damocles of which he spoke hangs over everybody's head: his, mine and everyone else's.
In his speech the member for Roberval also announced that the responsibility for the clarity of the question rests with Quebec. Such a responsibility was not famously discharged the last time, was it? Actually, it was so badly done that the supreme court, whose declaration was welcomed even by the present premier of Quebec, found it necessary to explicitly stress the importance that such a question in the future be put clearly. Evidently the supreme court was not impressed with the clarity of the question in 1995.
The level of indignation of the member for Roberval, who is otherwise a very likeable fellow, reached stratospheric heights when he said that never again would the members of the Bloc Quebecois allow the federal government to try to take away responsibility from the National Assembly of Quebec. What nonsense. No responsibility has been taken away.
Carefully read the first line of the bill. It states: “An act to give effect to the requirements for clarity as set out in the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada”. Yes, the Quebec national assembly is referred to in the first paragraph of the preamble, where we find a very important democratic point. It says that there is no right under international law or under the constitution of Canada for the national assembly, legislature or Government of Quebec to effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally. Why is the word unilateral so important? Because any proposal to break up Canada is a matter of the utmost gravity and is of fundamental importance to all of its citizens. Hence the importance that the question when asked be free of ambiguity and the answer be supported by a clear majority.
I do not want to cause the member for Roberval a heart attack by saying what in the view of many a clear majority should be, but because the matter is of grave importance to all Canadians a truly democratic approach would be to consult all Canadians from coast to coast. The same should apply to British Columbia, should one day the spectre of separation appear there, or any other province for that matter.
The member for Roberval accuses the federal government of wanting to make sure Quebec cannot “democratically” overcome certain obstacles. I respectfully submit that it is the Bloc Quebecois and the Parti Quebecois that are actually acting in an anti-democratic fashion. I say so for two reasons.
First, in their view the Quebec nationalists see the referendum question as a provincial matter only, but it is not. It affects the entire nation because it means the amputation of a very important and significant part of the national body. Before an amputation takes place we must consult all parts affected, not just the part to be amputated. This elementary democratic principle has not yet penetrated the collective brains of the Bloc Quebecois.
Second, Canada is a country which consists of aboriginal people, immigrants and their descendants. Let us take one group, the immigrants. I belong to that group. At least five million post-war immigrants have come to this country. Have they come to Ontario? No. Have they come to Quebec? No. Have they come to British Columbia? No. They and I have come to Canada. We have chosen Canada as a whole. We have settled in Canada because we were attracted to Canada, its spaces, mountains, forests, oceans and rolling hills. We became Canadian citizens not by accident of birth but by choice. We can see why it is unconvincing, for a party which claims to be democratic, to become indignant, as in the case of the member for Roberval.
Instead of putting up obstacles, the federal government is acting on behalf of all Canadians, as directed by the Supreme Court.
The Bloc Quebecois is losing touch with reality. Gone are the times of Duplessis. Today's Quebec is highly educated, modern, with tremendous cultural, technical and industrial strength, and of course economic potential. Quebecers understand the advantages of a bilingual Canada which is capable of speaking to the world in two major trading and cultural languages.
It seems to me that the member for Roberval and his colleagues are underestimating Quebecers, their intelligence and their vision of Canada and the world. If Quebecers are still being victimized it is by the Bloc and the Parti Quebecois.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau wrote these words, which I mentioned earlier, and they still apply today:
So it goes that, with myths and delusions, the Quebec nationalist elites falsify history to prove that all Quebec's political failures are someone else's fault: the conquest, the obscurantism of Duplessis' times, slowness to enter the modern age, illiteracy, and all the rest. It is never our leader's fault; it has to be blamed on some ominous plot against us.
There is a message here for the member for Roberval and his colleagues. I urge them to get with it, to enter the 21st century, to take their families to see the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific coast, the Arctic Ocean and the beautiful maritimes. These regions belong to them, the members of the Bloc Quebecois, every square centimetre, in the same way as every square centimetre of Quebec belongs to the other 29,999,000 Canadians.
