Commons committee summons Jean Chrétien over 1995 referendum

A House of Commons committee has summoned former prime minister Jean Chrétien to testify about “Opération citoyenneté,” carried out ahead of Quebec’s 1995 sovereignty referendum.

Last week, Sergio Marchi, the federal immigration minister at the time, confirmed to the Journal de Montréal that Chrétien asked him to speed up the processing of citizenship applications as the referendum approached.

The aim, he said, was to allow more newcomers, who were seen as more likely to support the No side, to vote in the Oct. 30, 1995 referendum.

Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, arguing that “the Liberals must explain their cheating,” tabled a motion calling for Chrétien to appear before the House standing committee on citizenship and immigration.

The motion, which also summons Marchi and his then–deputy minister, Senator Peter Harder, was adopted Tuesday evening.

“It’s fairly unusual to see a former immigration minister tell us that the prime minister at the time asked him to accelerate processing in order to interfere in an election,” Brunelle-Duceppe said as he presented the motion.

He told fellow MPs that the Journal’s revelations had made significant waves in Quebec and said the committee must hear explanations from those involved.

The motion requires the hearing with the three witnesses to take place next week.

The No side won the 1995 referendum by a narrow margin, 50.58 per cent to 49.42 per cent.

In his interview with the Journal, Marchi said he believes the accelerated processing had an impact on the result “in favour of Canada.”