Mr. Speaker, I think one has a choice between two positions. One can think that things are set in stone, that they can never change. I personally voted in favour of the Meech Lake accord. Ironically, the Parti Quebecois voted against it. And today they complain about the failure of the Meech Lake accord, but it is those same people from the Parti Quebecois, the independentists, who were opposed to the Meech Lake accord, every bit as much as Mr. Wells and all those who voted against it.
So, it is a fact that we need to acknowledge, and one cannot say that Meech was rejected by all Canadians. The premier and the people of Ontario vigorously supported Meech, as well as the people of British Columbia and Alberta. At the end of the day, only one province was responsible for Meech going under.
Many Canadians considered Meech a positive initiative, but we failed. There are two ways to react to this failure: since we failed, should we close the book? Should we say that Canada cannot go on, because the Meech Lake and the Charlottetown agreements failed? Of course not. We have to work harder and realize that shifts in position are possible, even in the Reform Party, since one of its members has brought forward today a resolution that might not have been accepted before by his party, which is now taking a new position. Like some of his colleagues have come to realize, we need to take new positions. We have to try to find out what brings us together instead of always looking for what drives us apart and could divide us forever.
Here, today, we have a new openness. We hope that the Calgary declaration can bring us together so that we can explain what the unique character of Quebec means and accept it for what it really means so that Quebec can feel welcome within our Constitution. Maybe we can find the kind of openness that has eluded us up until now. This is why we need to work as hard as we can to encourage such positions.
I hope that the Bloc Quebecois will see this as a sign of openness, unless the Bloc members maintain that it is impossible for us to work together. I for one believe that we can work together.