Madam Speaker, I am happy to respond to my colleague, who is one of the most thoughtful members of our party and very much dedicated to the building of a new pluralistic Canada. We are a community of communities, in the sense Martin Buber offered. The interesting thing is that this society works.
People are co-operating. People are working together. We are integrating the new communities into the political processes.
I told the Prime Minister the other day that British Columbia is the most distinct society of all because we have more national communities integrated into the political processes and working together. The message British Columbians are sending is that this country can function as a plural society. It is doing it already.
One understands the distinctiveness of the French language and French culture in Quebec. We are prepared to respect that. However, we ask for similar respect for our distinctiveness, our culture, and the recognition that the larger Canada brings together all these elements into a new national outlook.
I believe the reason the Prime Minister is receiving these messages from all around the world is because we have succeeded. This is not Bosnia-Herzegovina. I could name many countries around the world where nationalism exists in an intransigent sense. We have found the formula, and that is the message we are trying to carry in our approach to constitutional governmental change, change in the federal system in the balance of our term.