Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to answer the hon. member's question.
It was certainly not my intention to add to the confusion, and I apologize if I did. I thought I was clear when I said that, for example, provinces currently have a veto. All the provinces have a veto over certain issues. I also said that, as regards other issues, the support of seven provinces representing 50 per cent of the country's overall population was required. I added that this bill would be used to see if we could activate that 7-50 formula.
The member who just accused me of adding to the confusion is fully aware of the situation. This is what is annoying and, if it were not also funny, I would really be upset.
The member is the one adding to the confusion, because he claims that what I said is inaccurate. I invite him to check my notes, to look at Hansard and to rise in this House to publicly refute my comments if he thinks they are contradictory. There is no contradiction. It is the constitutional status quo. There is a new mechanism to ensure that some elements of the Constitution are used in a certain way. It is wrong to claim that this will not increase the power of Quebec, Ontario and the other provinces. The member knows that.
I also want to point out that he did not allude to the distinct society concept. I suppose he will again accuse me of adding to the confusion. There is no confusion. We recognize Quebec as a distinct society, because of its language, culture, and unique institutions. There is nothing complicated in that and it is absolutely fair.
If the member is willing to co-operate, I am prepared to do the same and to clarify our terms. It is unfair and wrong to use a term such as English Canada. There is no such thing as an English Canada. We live in a country called Canada, which includes a number of provinces and territories, and the member knows that as well as I do.
In making such a comment, he tries to put in the minds of Quebecers the notion that French is spoken in only one part of the country. I, for one, am proud to speak French. Some people back home, and west of it, speak it better than I do. There are quite a few of them. As the hon. member knows, there is also quite a large number of people in Atlantic Canada who speak French and who are proud to do so.
It is misleading to use the expression English Canada, as the hon. member did, because it is both inaccurate and wrong. I must say that he is not the only one to do so. I would appreciate it if he and his colleagues made a commitment to stop using that expression.