Mr. Speaker, I would like to compliment my colleague from St. Boniface on his remarks.
The member for St. Boniface brought forth a very important point in his speech. It is the one relating to the question that was done in terms of the referendum, are the people of Newfoundland in favour of reform? It is awful that we only had just a little over 50 per cent.
I think back to the moment when the current premier of Newfoundland was sitting in this House. We all remember the great job he did with the fishnet at the United Nations. He stood in front of the platform and had the big fishnet behind him and he spoke for that little fish, the little turbot, that was being squeezed out of the system. He stood up for Canada. I would dare say that had we had a referendum at that time on the popularity of the then minister of fisheries who is now the premier of Newfoundland, we would be talking about 100 per cent. He did a great thing.
The member for St. Boniface brought this forth so well. They asked a question of all the people of Newfoundland in a referendum: Are you in favour of reforming the educational system in this province? It is strange that only 52 per cent said yes. It should have been upward of 80 to 90 per cent. This whole issue of percentages on the referendum has been glossed over.
I also want to build on the point my friend from Edmonton raised earlier. He quoted Thomas Paine, saying that every generation has a right to decide. I would like to bring to the floor of this House the words of a leader of this country who sat in front of us just a few years ago, a great constitutional leader, Pierre Trudeau. When he was repatriating the Constitution he said that it is the duty of this House, of this Chamber, not just to worry about the advantaged but to speak out for the disadvantaged, and not just to worry about the advantaged regions but to speak out for the disadvantaged regions.
We have a duty in this House to make sure that we who are the custodians of minority rights in this House, have a serious debate on this issue. We should not forget that.