Mr. Speaker, last week, Stéphane Dion, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, travelled to British Columbia, where he tried to sell the distinct society concept to the people of this region, who are bitterly opposed to it.
In an attempt to reassure them, he stated that recognizing Quebec as a distinct society confers no additional powers on Quebec and, therefore, does not take anything away from other Canadians. What is the use of talking about distinct society if it is a meaningless concept? Will Mr. Dion keep talking about a worthless clause? Some other weekend, will he try to convince Quebecers that a distinct society clause could bring about the changes promised by the no side in the days leading up to the October 30 referendum?
Frankly, Mr. Dion should stop using the phrase "distinct society", which has become trite and has lost any meaning when he uses it. For the moment, he should focus on how the federal government could change how the powers are shared.