“That makes me mad. The Prime Minister should stay out of other provinces' referendum questions. I want him to leave provinces and Quebec alone to run their own votes how they want. That's democracy.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
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Justice
A debate where the Bloc accused the Prime Minister of disrespecting democracy by potentially using the Clarity Act to meddle in Alberta's referendum question. The Prime Minister responded that he must respect the Clarity Act and the Supreme Court's decisions, which require a clear majority on a clear question for a referendum to be valid. The Bloc argued a clear majority is 50% plus one vote, the same threshold used to pass laws, and that the Clarity Act has no place in a democracy. The PM replied that the Clarity Act is law and must be obeyed.
“I want to look like I listen to experts. The Clarity Act doesn't apply here. But I still want to say it should be hard to separate.”
“I want to make it sound like a simple majority should be enough to separate. But I ignore any costs or complications to splitting up a province. I want to frame this as pure democracy versus a bad Prime Minister.”
“I want to sound like a reasonable statesman. The Supreme Court said a clear majority needs more than just 50 percent plus one. So it would be wrong to separate with such a tiny margin.”
“I don't care what the Supreme Court said. 50 percent plus one is good enough for me. Anything else is a slippery slope to overruling what voters decided. The Prime Minister should get rid of your Clarity Act that goes against the will of the people.”
“I want everyone to know that we follow Canada's laws. I will not say anything against the Clarity Act. I think Quebec should be strong and part of Canada.”