Mr. Speaker, I would like to add a calm voice to this discussion. I would like to add it to those voices of hon. members who have been urging the motion of privilege put by the member for Okanagan-Similkameen-Merritt be accepted as it is, not as amended, and that the matter contained in the original motion be referred to the standing committee.
It has been well established that the member for Charlesbourg, a member of the defence committee of the House, released a communiqué on letterhead of the office of the leader of the official opposition of the House on October 26, 1995 before the referendum in Quebec. It invited Quebec francophone members of the Canadian Armed Forces to join the Quebec military in the event of a yes vote in support of separation from Canada.
The original motion calls for recognition that in the opinion of the House this action should be viewed as seditious, offensive and in contempt of Parliament. I will argue in favour of retaining the original wording. The government wants to water it down.
The issue is not whether the action by the member was foolish and ill considered; obviously it was foolish and ill considered. If the commission of foolish and ill considered actions from time to time were to constitute contempt of Parliament very few of us would escape its censure.
The issue is not whether the action by the member was offensive to the public, although it undoubtedly is offensive to many members of the public judging from the letters we have received, including letters from my constituents. The issue is not even whether the action of the member was seditious or traitorous in the sense of sections 53, 59 or 62 of the Criminal Code, a subject on which at least one Ontario court has partially ruled.
Rather, the issue is whether in the opinion of the House, a court in its own right with respect to its own privileges, the action of the member should be viewed as seditious and offensive.
I remind the government House leader these words were carefully chosen. They have not been carefully read but they were carefully chosen in the first place.
As early as June 1994 I urged the Prime Minister publicly and privately to spell out the terms and conditions which in the opinion of the federal government ought to govern any attempt at secession. I asked him to spell out the terms and conditions which ought to govern any public order issues, such as those envisioned by part II of the Criminal Code and the Emergencies Act. My fear was that in the absence of such guidelines it would be left to the sovereignists, those advocating the break-up of Canada, to define what constituted acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in those circumstances. That is exactly what happened.
The principal reason for allowing this motion to proceed in its original form is not simply to determine whether a particular member should be disciplined for actions offensive to this House and to many Canadians. It is to permit this House to consider through an examination by the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. It is for the future guidance of all members in terms of what constitutes acceptable or unacceptable conduct with respect to urging members of the Canadian Armed Forces to pursue
a particular course of action in the event of an attempted secession by a province or a part thereof.
Part II of our Criminal Code tends to define sedition using an old wartime definition of sedition. It defines it narrowly as advocating governmental change within Canada by the use of force or violence. The Leader of the Opposition misses the entire point of our motion by harping on that particular definition.
Proceeding with this motion will require the standing committee to determine what should and should not be viewed as seditious in the present opinion of this House in the context of a secession attempt, something that the Criminal Code never envisioned, nor did the court cases dealing with sedition in the past consider. For example, it may well be that in the opinion of this House, under present circumstances, advocating a change of government in Canada by any unlawful means should be considered some form of sedition and that the Criminal Code should be changed to reflect that opinion. That could very well be one of the conclusions of the standing committee.
The government by amending the motion seeks to avoid coming to grips with the real issues raised by a secession attempt and the participation of members of this House in that attempt. It seeks again to avoid the realities of secession. That is precisely what it did prior to the referendum and it was a profound mistake. It was a strategic mistake. It allowed separatists to define what was acceptable and unacceptable in the event of a yes vote. It created a vacuum into which members like the member for Charlesbourg wandered and were allowed to do whatever they pleased. That same type of conduct will occur in the future if that vacuum is allowed to remain.
Many Liberal backbenchers, to their credit, saw that mistake more clearly than the advisers in the Prime Minister's office. Now by supporting this motion they have a chance to correct it. The House has a chance to correct it at least in relation to one small dimension of the separation issue.
Supporting this motion in its original form would make a major contribution to clarifying for all members what constitutes acceptable or unacceptable conduct with respect to attempting to influence the armed forces in the unusual constitutional circumstances in which this country finds itself. Supporting the motion in its original form contributes to the rule of law by defining the rule of law in an area where it is unclear or does not exist at all and contributes to peace, order and good government, two purposes for which this House exists.
