Jean-Marc Jacob, MP: A patriot or a traitor?

June 18, 1996
Bloc MP was irresponsible but not seditious: Report

I'd send the same letter again to soldiers: Jacob
If there was another referendum in Quebec, Bloc Quebecois MP Jean-Marc Jacob says he'd send the same letter to Quebec soldiers that got him into hot water after the last one.

The launch of the committee:

BACKGROUND: Jean-Marc Jacob sent the letter Oct. 26 saying that if the Yes forces won, "I think that soldiers of Quebec origin will respect the people's decision and will transfer their loyalty to the new country whose security they will ensure."
JACOB'S EXPLANATION: He says he wanted to reassure soldiers worried about their future. He sent the letter openly, with copies to the media.
COMPLAINT: Reform MP Jim Hart introduced a motion in the Commons saying the action should be viewed as "seditious and offensive to the House."
RESPONSE: Motion was watered down; Commons committee asked to determine if it breached parliamentary privilege or was in contempt of Parliament.
PAST ACTION: Two justices of the peace, in Ontario and Quebec, have already rejected attempts to have Jacob charged with a criminal offence. An inquiry by the Defence Department also found no grounds for charging Jacob.
RESULT: The committee could recommend sanctions to the House, including having Jacob expelled.

THE HISTORY:

April 18, 1996
Bloc MP accused of sedition set to testify
Bloc Quebecois MP Jean-Marc Jacob will testify at a Commons committee next Thursday about a letter he sent before the referendum urging Quebec soldiers to join a Quebec army after a Yes vote. Committee members, who must decide if Jacob should be punished for sending the letter, agreed Thursday to only look at matters "directly related" to the communique. The Reform party, which launched the complaint against Jacob, wanted to talk about sedition and about preventing separatist MPs from doing the same thing in any future referendum. They also wanted to grill Jacob about comments he made suggesting there were top army officers in Quebec ready to form the nucleus of a defence staff after independence. Reform MP Ray Speaker said his party still intends to explore those issues, despite the limits set by the committee.

April 18, 1996
Parliament can jail Bloc MP for contempt, committee told
The House of Commons has the clear power to sentence Jean-Marc Jacob to prison -- giving him no appeal to the courts -- if it decides the Bloc Qubecois MP was in contempt of Parliament for trying to recruit Canadian soldiers into an independent Quebec army, the Commons legal counsel told a committee Wednesday. "There is no doubt that from a legal point of view the House has complete legal authority to act on matters of contempt to its authority occurring within or outside it walls," Diane Davidson told the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. "In such matters the House has exclusive authority to act and possesses penal powers to punish whomever transgresses its authority," she said as Jacob sat in a spectator seat, listening attentively, but calmly. "Not even the courts would question the existence or the exercise of such authority."

Monday, April 15, 1996
Dealing with the Jacob affair presents MP with some contentious questions
When they take up the Jacob affair this week, members of Parliament will be dealing with the spongy areas of "parliamentary privilege'' and "contempt of the House.'' These will be the key issues before the Committee on Procedure and House Affairs as it exams Jacob's actions, even though the words were removed from the final motion by which the House sent the issue to the committee for study. Reform MP Jim Hart's original motion cited Jean-Marc Jacob for "contempt'' for the "seditious'' act of inviting Canadian soldiers to join a Quebec Army the day after a Yes vote; Hart claimed that his "privileges'' as a parliamentarian had been trampled on by Jacob's action. The Liberal majority, however, removed all reference to contempt and sedition, leaving the motion to read simply that "the matter'' of Jacob's letter of recruitment to the Forces be referred to the committee. Last month's emotional Commons debate on the motion was launched by Speaker Gilbert Parent's ruling that Jacob's action formed a prima facie case for Hart to argue a breach of parliamentary privilege.

April 15, 1996
The characters in the Jacob affair could hardly be more different
Canada's two solitudes are sharply etched in the arguments and personalities in the Jacob Affair, which promises to unfold in high drama before a House of Commons committee this week.

OPINION

April 13, 1996
Reformers off target on forces issue
In Moscow last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy turned white when his Russian counterpart, Yevgeny Primakov, compared Quebec separatism to Russia's bloody conflict with the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Axworthy was right to pale. No Canadian can seriously contemplate trying to hold Quebec by armed force, particularly since the distinct province would be far from helpless against an occupying force. But the role of the armed forces is the underlying topic when a little-known parliamentary committee, the standing committee on procedure and house affairs, meets Wednesday to resume its investigation of Bloc MP Jean-Marc Jacob, Rosemary Speirs writes.

April 18, 1996