We have listened to the opposition parties. It is really very sad. I have a lot more faith and confidence in the people of Canada and the good judgment of those 150,000 people.
The Bloc wanted to know if campaign managers had paid for this, who had taken the school bus? Steelworkers from my riding, who had never been involved in politics in any way, rode in a school bus for ten hours to go to Montreal to express their solidarity and recognize what you know and what we know. It is a fact, Quebec is a distinct society, and that is why since the beginning of our history we have been different. Why did I say during the referendum campaign that Quebec is the heart of Canada?
If our nation is respectful of individuals and communities, it is thanks to French speaking Canadians, who were able to survive throughout the history of North America. You were all by yourselves. Some could not keep their language, but you were all by yourselves and you managed to survive because you knew how to build a community. You have embraced the principles of sharing through institutions such as the caisse de dépôt and the co-op movement. Your contribution to the fabric of Canada is what makes up the soul of our country.
Some people tell us: "Mind your own business." If I am a Canadian, I am not an Ontarian, I am not an English speaking Canadian, I am simply a Canadian who believes her country, without Quebec, would be an empty shell. My country, without Quebec, will lose all we have achieved together. Admittedly, we have problems. There are always problems. But are we generous enough and open minded enough to accept wholeheartedly the changes that need to be made?
Canada is not about cutting the best deal for oneself. Canada is not about carving up power among politicians. Canada is about building a hope and a dream for people around the world who look to Canada for inspiration from a country that can make its differences work.
Let us look at the globe today. People with far greater differences than ours are making enormous accommodations and throwing off centuries of bitterness, centuries of historic hate. We see peace in the Middle East. We see peace in Northern Ireland. We see the peace process in Bosnia. Bitter rivals are laying down decades and centuries of hatred and destruction and they are finding accom-
modation. We thank God that in this country we do not have such hatred to overcome.
The city of Shawinigan is twinned with mine. It was my father, a guy from Northern Ontario who spoke French slang, who twinned those to cities in the sixties. What do working people in Shawinigan and Hamilton want? They want us to be able to give the best to our children.
My grandmother was a widow who raised six lads in Northern Ontario. She was penniless, and could not afford university for her children. Neither my father nor my mother went to university. But all their children did because, in the sixties, we tried to improve the situation in Canada to give more opportunities to more people.
Our current fiscal circumstances are difficult, and we live in a period where we tend to withdraw into ourselves. But is that the way to have a strong country in the next century? The country we have can be a leader in the world and meet the challenges of the 21st century. I sure of that.
This summer in my riding of Hamilton East we will be twinning with families from Shawinigan. One hundred and fifty Shawinigan families are coming to Hamilton for the 150th birthday of my city.
I am not afraid of public reaction to distinct society and veto rights. I am not afraid of people's reaction. The people said very clearly and in great numbers in Montreal that they were prepared to embrace real change. They were prepared to understand that the distinctiveness of Quebec forms an important part of the heart and soul of Canada.
We are not hearing here today the voices of the people. They are the voices of the power brokers and the politicians who want to carve Canada into little pieces. The Bloc has an agenda. It wants Quebec without Canada. The Reform clearly wants a Canada without Quebec. Will regional expressions of difference, of making us smaller, of cutting us into little pieces, giving a little power to a politician here and taking a little power away there solve our problem? I know what will solve our problem.
What will solve our problem is the linguistic heritage we got from French speaking Canadians, if we prove able to meet new challenges thanks to the generosity and historical background of our country.