He led the charge against the Waffle, speaking from the floor, and surrounded by approximately 600 supporters, stated: "You would be doing an immense disservice to the party and this great country if this convention binds itself to any resolution that questions the desire of the people to live in one united Canada." Another leadership hopeful, Ed Broadbent, tried to bridge the two polarized factions, by attempting to introduce a compromise amendment to Lewis' motion that said: "There should be no questioning of the fundamental right of Quebeckers to leave Confederation if the decision is democratically arrived by the people of Quebec." His amendment garnered little support, and was rejected outright by a wide majority. In the end, the vast majority of the 1,700 convention delegates supported the Lewis motion, with a show of hands. The motion backed a one-Canada stand, and really gave the party's establishment a free-hand on how to prepare a more detailed position for the up-coming federal election, since the motion also made the party's establishment-controlled Federal Council responsible for producing that policy. After the Quebec wing's defeat on the Quebec motion, Laliberté refused to state whether they would leave the party, only suggesting that it would be dealt with at their June provincial convention.
