Mr. Speaker, I listened to the hon. member for Fraser Valley East with great interest. I know he thinks carefully about the future of Canada and that the future of Canada is very close to his heart.
I have sat on this side of the House, surrounded by members of the Bloc Quebecois, for nearly a year and I have come to realize that many of the members of the Bloc Quebecois are not exactly separatists but are better described as sovereignists. Their vision of the future for Canada is with the provinces having independent powers, short of a shared passport and a shared currency. They want the central government to be reduced to the point where it is as weak as possible relative to the provincial governments.
I would ask the member for Fraser Valley East what is the difference between his vision of Canada and the sovereignist vision of the Bloc Quebecois. Is it not true that the Reform Party wants to diminish the role of Ottawa in the daily life of Canadians and make the provinces all powerful? The provinces could be like British Columbia, which has a new NDP government that did not tell the truth. It does not necessarily follow that we can be guaranteed as Canadians that provincial governments always will be the better form of government in this country.
What is the difference between his position as a Reformer, insisting that Ottawa be diminished as much as possible, to nothing more than an institution that looks after trade and passports, giving all the power to the provinces, and that of the Bloc Quebecois? What is the difference between Mr. Manning and Mr. Bouchard, if I may ask?