Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  I did not use that term. So, we would tell a person to try to attract favourable public attention, to incur electoral expenditures, to participate in elections, and ultimately, Canada's Prime Minister could say that he prefers some other person who has not been through the elect

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  The end result is that you have eaten an elephant. That's the end result.

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  It is very wise then, very subtle. But is it constitutional? I don't think so. Why would someone be allowed to do indirectly what that person cannot do directly? In our case, even if it is very subtle, it is important enough for getting a reaction, for bringing us to reacting to

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  This is not a scenario that we are envisaging, because we do not want to authorize a process which, in our opinion, would eventually transform the Senate's mandate by progressively transforming the institution into an elected chamber, without applying any formal constitutional am

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  I think it is worth trying to improve the Canadian federation. It could be done through different means. Some of these means are constitutional per se, others are not. It all depends. In the case of our government, in 2003, when we formed the government in Quebec, we decided to

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  I think even more experts will tell you that this could only be done under a multilateral constitutional change process. The Constitution already sets out, in section 42, that you cannot touch the powers of the Senate without using the 7/50 formula. If you eliminate all powers, a

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  The Government of Quebec's priority was not Senate reform. It became an issue for us under the circumstances, of course. We have already stated that our priority was to limit the federal spending power in the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces. That is our government's sta

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  I know that even among the experts there are many points of view. So I ask you, isn't that a reason for clarifying everything and making sure that we do not make any mistakes? That's the bottom line. As I said, some experts do pretend that the reference of 1980 of the Supreme Co

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  In my opinion, Canada could well do with a provincial house that is completely viable and useful, as is the case in other federations throughout the world. In some respects—and I want to be clear that this is in some respects and not entirely—we could use the German model as an e

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  First of all, if there were a change in order to change the Senate into a house of the provinces, let me tell you that it would be a major change. It probably would require discussions with all the provinces--I'm sure of that--and the federal government too. Is it a reason for n

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  We haven't got that far, but we are aware of this new reality, in other words provincial legislation being passed to elect senators. Obviously, we are studying the consequences of all of those initiatives, but we are not at that point in our analysis where we are able to take a p

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  Clearly, this motion was inspired by the Upper House Reference of 1980. Obviously, we are referring to amendments to the essential characteristics of the Senate. To this end, we defer to the Upper House Reference, which is inspired by common sense. The Supreme Court stated that i

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  I think the current process has some value. It brought to the Senate many prominent people, people who have served the country and people who are an asset for the federal Parliament. So there is some value, in my view, in the current appointment process. At the same time, if yo

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  Excuse me?

Bill C-20 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) committee  It is extremely clear that if you wish to amend the powers of the Senate, a constitutional amendment is essential. This is set out in section 42 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Unless there is some nuance that I am not thinking about at this moment, a multilateral constitutional a