Mr. Speaker, I recalled Meech and Charlottetown because they are actual facts which show that this system cannot be reformed. The PQ government was against Meech and against Charlottetown, clearly. It said so and we attended many committee hearings and took part in these debates both here and in Quebec City to explain our stand. We were not afraid of it. Besides, we were right and we won. But we were against those accords. It shows one thing, that we won against all the federalists put together. I think that the member of the Reform Party voted with the eight members of the Bloc Quebecois then, so maybe we were nine.
There were 286 members convinced and captivated by the Charlottetown Accord. We saw the results. This shows the impotence, not because people cannot change things but because these things cannot be changed. There are two realities. Quebec is not better or worse than the rest of Canada, it is simply different, just as Canada is different from the United States. If I asked all hon. members whether Canada should be a sovereign country separate from the United States, they would say yes. Does this mean that they have contempt for the United States because Canada wants to stay sovereign? No, certainly not.
Neither do we have contempt for Canada. We want to become sovereign for ourselves and have better ties with our Canadian and American friends and all countries in the world.