Mr. Speaker, during the referendum campaign, the Prime Minister promised to recognize Quebec as a distinct society. Now, he is putting forward new initiatives to fulfil his promise.
Unfortunately, the third party is once again putting its own political agenda ahead of Canada's by not supporting this initiative that will help preserve Canadian unity.
The third party's political manoeuvring is as apparent today as it was in 1989 when, in an article which appeared in Maclean's , the leader of that party compared the constitutional evolution of our country to horse trading. He was willing then to trade off the distinct society clause for something else. Clearly this form of trade off bargaining serves to create greater differences among the regions and the provinces instead of creating a sense of Canadian unity.
When will the leader of the Reform Party and his colleagues start putting Canada first as opposed to their own political fortunes?