Mr. Speaker, last week, the Bloc Quebecois leader said that Acadian artists should settle in Quebec to avoid assimilation.
The hon. member should know that French Canadians deserve praise for their efforts and that they did not wait for the Bloc Quebecois and its paternalistic statements to fight for their identity. But the member's comment goes much further. The Bloc leader is in fact encouraging ethnic grouping.
I will refrain from saying what happens, as history teaches us, when ethnic grouping is encouraged on a territorial basis.
I say to this House that the overwhelming majority of Quebeckers reject this narrow and dangerous vision, which dates back to the last century.
When making such comments, the Bloc Quebecois leader does not in any way represent Quebeckers, whether they are federalist or not. Will the member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie now tell anglophones in Quebec that they will have to leave their province to avoid assimilation?
Out of respect for Acadians and for the whole—