OTTAWA — The Bloc Québécois suffered a bitter defeat on Wednesday in a vote aimed at moving forward its bill to combat Ottawa’s interference in provincial jurisdiction, and one of them in particular.

According to the unofficial results, the House of Commons voted 32 in favor and 292 against the idea of ​​sending Bill C-237 to committee. Only the block voted for it. The Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats opposed it.

The bill provided that a province could withdraw from any federal program under its jurisdiction if it has a comparable program, and that it would do so unconditionally and with full compensation.

During the second-reading debates, the bill’s supporter and Dean of the House of Commons Louis Plamondon said that he entered the political arena in 1984 “so that we might be masters in our own house” and then took up the electoral slogan of Quebec Premier Jean reading And that’s exactly why he’s introducing this bill 38 years later.

Ultimately, it’s the political parties that decide on “respecting the Canadian Constitution,” he summed up during a pre-vote press conference, noting, “It’s funny that it’s a sovereignist asking them.”

The critic of the bloc’s national revenues, Jean-Denis Garon, then argued that there was nothing partisan about the law.

“It represents the so-called traditional position of Quebec,” he said. Since the 1960s and even before that, all governments in the National Assembly (…) of all parties taken together have asked that Quebec be granted a right of resignation with full financial compensation in relation to programs in provincial jurisdiction areas.”

Unexpected obstacle

But the Bloc Québécois faced an unexpected obstacle, according to Plamondon’s own admission: the speaker of the House of Commons ruled that the bill would require a royal recommendation for a vote during a possible third reading because it affects spending of public funds. In other words, the Liberal government must agree with her, which she has already indicated is out of the question.

“I could never, ever support such legislation,” said Kevin Lamoureux, parliamentary secretary to the House Speaker, from the start of the debates.

Mr. Lamoureux explained that the Canada Health Act is one of the prides of Canadians and what sets them apart from the United States. In particular, this law allows all Canadians to have access to the public health insurance plan, that care is covered by the public plan, that care is comparable from one province to another.

For their part, the Conservatives had indicated they would vote against the bill because “it can be assumed with certainty” that the bill will not receive the Royal Recommendation as it did not receive it at this stadium.

Quebec Lieutenant Pierre-Paul Hus added before Question Time on Wednesday that the bloc knew full well that “it can’t happen”. However, he reiterated that his party “has always agreed to the principle of decentralizing powers to the provinces”.

On the side of the New Democratic Party, Vice-Chairman Alexandre Boulerice said he had “a major problem” that removing Quebec from the “essential values” of Canada’s Health Care Act “opens the door wide to the privatization of healthcare care”.

The New Democrats are firmly opposed to this possible privatization, their leader Jagmeet Singh reiterated during a press conference on Wednesday. However, he has not clearly indicated how his political party will vote in the vote.

According to the Bloc Québécois, this is the first time such a bill has been put to the vote. The formation had submitted an application on this issue in 2010, without success.