Mr. SPeaker, I thank the hon. member for Mercier for her comments, and although my answer may not be entirely adequate because I have not had time to develop this aspect, I am sure that during this Parliament there will be opportunities for discussion to clarify our thoughts on the matter.
To get back to your comment on small countries, if we take, for example, the European Community, small countries which maintain their identity can do so because they have agreed to give up a certain amount of their sovereignty within a broader context. I can say that to the people of Ontario, there is no difference. Fine, we in Ontario could say that we want our own solution. Everybody wants his own solution, but we have to look at the facts. We have to be practical.
Everybody cannot have his own solution. The problems of GATT are a good illustration of this. Canada wanted to keep the supply management system we built up over the years, but we could not keep it any more. The other countries would not agree. We have to face the facts. It is not just a matter of saying what we want. The important thing is what we can accomplish.
In this situation we have to look at the global economic climate and our own resources. I believe that it will be much easier to deal with these problems as Canadians than as individual provinces.