Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to speak on this issue. I should like to share my vision of Canada with members opposite, the Canada that I dreamed of as a 10-year old boy in Croatia.
I dreamed about Canada. It was a huge country. I dreamed about Canada when I asked my parents whether there was anything for breakfast. Today as a parent I am asking my children what they want for breakfast.
My dreams became a reality in 1968 when I arrived in Canada. I was by myself and not even 19 years old. The question is why Canada. I cannot answer that question. However today I know that I made the right choice. I had the chance to go to Australia or New Zealand or to stay in Croatia. However I chose to come here. Three years later when I became a Canadian citizen I was the luckiest person on the planet.
I did not know about the differences within Canadian society until I arrived in Canada and I found out about English speaking Canada and French speaking Canada. That was great. There are Canadians in the middle, Canadians like myself, who came to build
this great country. We cannot ignore that they built it and they made it the best country on the planet.
We do not know how to appreciate that. Sometimes I ask myself what is wrong with us. When we return from travelling abroad and seeing how other people live and how much they have, we really appreciate what we have here and what we are.
October 27 was an historic date for Canada. We gathered in Montreal and told Quebecers that we loved them. The Prime Minister made a commitment which I fully support. It is not just to recognize Quebec as a distinct society. It also recognizes the historical fact that French people in Canada are different. It is not that they are better or worse than anybody else, but that they are different. They have a different language and a different culture. That is great and we have to respect and admire that. We have to tolerate that if we want to be a strong, united Canada.
On October 27 I took my eight-year old son along with the rest of the 250 constituents from Cambridge to Montreal. He was a part of that historic day. He was proud to be part of that historic day, the beginning of a new Canada. Today he is learning French in school. He will probably share some time in Quebec with his eight and nine year old colleagues in the near future.
Unfortunately maybe we do not know each other very well. It is about time that we took the effort to know each other, to get to know Canadians from British Columbia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. It is about time we know about our unique Canadian culture to which many newcomers and I contribute.
By giving this recognition to French people in Canada, I am convinced that Canada will survive. We are facing difficulties today, but it is not the end. It is evident that we have to solve the problem today and continue building a stronger and better Canada for our children and grandchildren.
I urge members from all three sides to work together to make Canada even better, to put our differences aside and work together to build a unique and stronger Canada. We can accomplish that, so help us God.