Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking my colleague from Broadview-Greenwood for his nice comments on my role on the committee but it shows a little my mentality and probably that of many of my colleagues with respect to the relations that will have to be maintained in the future between two sovereign peoples. I think that the courteous and the civil thing to do would be to deal with each other on an equal footing without hate or prejudice. That is what I am used to. The quality and experience of the membership of the committee my colleague sits on also helped.
In response to the question, I think that with every passing year it becomes more obvious that this country has reached a dead end. What I have noticed in recent weeks, perhaps during the opposition leader's international travels, is that English Canadians seem to have discovered the sovereigntist movement, as though it started with Mr. Parizeau, leader of the Opposition in Quebec, and the member for Lac-Saint-Jean, Leader of the Opposition in this House. In fact, the sovereigntist movement has been around in Quebec since Confederation and as you know, there was no referendum before Quebec became a Canadian province. If I remember correctly, it passed by one vote among the Quebec representatives here in Canada's Parliament.
What strikes me is that we may have to question the role of the media in the evolution of the debate. Incidentally, 30 years ago here in Ottawa, there was the Laurendeau-Dunton Royal Commission.