Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the hon. member that our future would be much brighter and our prosperity much more certain if the rest of Canada stopped refusing to recognize what Quebec demanded as a people, because these repeated refusals have led to crises which are an expression of the will of that people and nation.
You cannot silence a whole nation. The issue will always resurface because the right of nations is a fundamental one. Democracy is based on that right. Canada's prosperity would indeed be much greater. It could have been much greater if Quebecers had been recognized as a people and a nation, instead of denying that reality. This is true today and it will still be true tomorrow, for the only uncertainty which exists is linked to the possibility that you may reject our decision as a people. This is the only uncertainty; there are no other ones.
Sure, we can talk about prosperity and about the future, but do recognize that we are a people and a nation, and that the decision will be ours. In any case, you cannot overlook that basic reality.