Mr. Speaker, as we all read in the newspapers this morning, the Prime Minister's proposals have been almost unanimously rejected by our major dailies' editorial writers and other observers. Alain Dubuc from La Presse , Michel Auger from Le Journal de Montréal , and editorial writers from Le Soleil , the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun were not fooled by the simplistic and superficial initiatives announced by the Prime Minister on Monday.
They see them as a hastily improvised reaction, to save face, by a government incapable of delivering on the constitutional promises it made during the Quebec referendum.
The Prime Minister's proposals have been rejected in English Canada for being overly generous to Quebec, and in Quebec for falling far short of its traditional minimum demands.
This is a repeat of the response to the Charlottetown agreement, which was rejected by all parties.