Mr. Speaker, without any debate, the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada replaced the notion of distinct society by the diluted phrase "principal homeland of the French language, culture and legal tradition in North America" to describe Quebec.
Painted into a corner by the rank-and-file of his own party, in the final days of the referendum campaign, the Prime Minister made one commitment after another to recognize Quebec as a distinct society. Now, he is only asking for the recognition of the French fact in Quebec.
What the Prime Minister and the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs are seeking above all is to increase the level of satisfaction in the rest of Canada at the expense of interests which are specific to Quebec. It would seem that the Prime Minister has not yet realized why the Bloc Quebecois is still the official opposition in this House.