Procedure and House Affairs committee  It exists. I am not going to jump off a cliff if you keep it. The only thing I am saying is that it seems to me that it is not illegitimate for a government to put the same question to all voters in the country. I would note that the same question has been put and the vote was he

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In 1992, that flexibility did mean that everyone got what they wanted. In 1992, Quebeckers were convinced that their approach was preferable. That is the approach that won out. I think there was also another reason. Politics is funny: you never know exactly where you are going t

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The situations are very different from one province to another. In the case of Quebec, a framework act was enacted in 1978 that allows for various referendums to be held. I mention it because to start with, referendums are not a normal method of governing. When a referendum is he

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I will be happy to come back to it.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think I would prefer the Referendum Act to be aligned with the Elections Act. As far as I know, the Referendum Act has not been debated on its own merits since 1992. The Canada Elections Act, on the other hand, has been debated many times. I understand that in 2000 a brand new

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay. I have to be consistent with what I said earlier. I said that when the act was discussed, this was the hottest issue. We've read the debates of that time, and this was one of the main issues debated. Of course, the Quebec model was put forward in those days as a possibility

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Proulx, you are persuading me of the merits of public discussion, because when I listen to you I can distinguish between two scenarios, two typical referendums. In the first kind of referendum, the people who support Party A almost all support one referendum option, and the

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There is a risk that this scenario will cause problems. In the other cases I have in mind, that correspond to the most recent instances dealing with the electoral system—and much longer ago, with prohibition—the reason why a referendum was decided on was precisely because the par

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll make my presentation in French and I will try to answer questions in either language. I did not expect to have to introduce myself. I will try to be brief. As you mentioned, I am a professor of political science at Laval University. I also hold the