Mr. Speaker, it is with honour that I speak for the first time in the 36th Parliament. As with my first speech in the 35th Parliament, I want to take this opportunity, in my second maiden speech, to thank the constituents of Elgin—Middlesex—London for electing me in June of 1997. It was a great honour to be re-elected. Being elected the first time was a tremendous honour, but to have it reaffirmed is certainly one of the greatest moments in my life.
Let me now turn to the issue at hand, Quebec and its uniqueness.
The starting point for me in understanding this issue was when I visited French-speaking communities in Quebec and talked to the French-speaking people of Quebec. They have a much different take on this than we do.
People need to understand that at a very fundamental level they feel threatened by living in what they see as an anglophone Canada, an anglophone North America and, in may respects, with the age of Internet, mass communications and satellites, what may turn into an anglophone world. What they want is some recognition in the rest of the country of their Frenchness. They want some understanding that they can have a minimum of protection in the Constitution. In certain respects it is an emotional thing, but they feel that their culture, their heritage and particularly their language are under great threat.
I explained this to people in St. Thomas. When we see a Pizza Hut open up or a Blockbuster video on the main street of St. Thomas it is not a cultural issue. When my children play on the Internet, that is not a cultural issue. If I go to an American movie, again, it is not a cultural issue. If I am bombarded with Much Music on television when my kids are watching it, it is not a big issue for me as an English-speaking person. However, those types of things in a French-speaking community may be taken far differently. They may be taken as just another sign of the dominance of English in our culture today.
It is at that level that they feel they need some protection. They want it to be recognized by the rest of the country. They want some acknowledgement. The greatest acknowledgement they can have is a simple line in the Constitution which states that they are unique and that they can enact laws to protect that uniqueness, within the parameters of the charter of rights and freedoms which ensures that all Canadians are equal. I think it is quite reasonable that it be within the parameters of the notion that all provinces are equal.
If we go to a French community today we may find no one who speaks English or very few who speak English. They actually believe that 30, 40 or 50 years down the road their children and their grandchildren, because of all these outside pressures, will be speaking English. When we start to understand the issue at that emotional level, I think we can understand what they are after.
They are after recognition, which the Calgary declaration does an adequate job of providing. It recognizes Quebec as being unique. We can debate whether we should use the word distinct, unique or some other word. For me, it is really about semantics. It really does not matter. The main point is that the majority of Quebeckers are French speaking and they want to protect their culture.
Once they get the recognition, they also want to have a veto over changes to the Constitution. That will basically give them the two anchors of any constitutional change. They need recognition and they also need a regional veto.
If we open our minds to this we can see the possibility as can people in my own community of Elgin. One person compared it to ethnic clubs. He said that he could care less when the German people get together and they go to the German club, the Saxsonia Hall in Aylmer and speak German for example. He could care less about a Hungarian club that might be in Simcoe or some other place, or a Croatian club just outside St. Thomas. It matters not to him that the people in Quebec want to speak French. He says that is a perfectly legitimate thing.
I explained to him that it will not affect his right for anything, that it will not make him any less equal, that it is really about people protecting their language and their culture. At its most fundamental level this is respect for the ways of their parents and grandparents, for the traditions that have been passed down. It is respect for the traditions they have grown up with and a desire to see those traditions passed on to their children and their grandchildren.
We can all understand that. We are proud of our heritage. We are proud of what our ancestors did regardless of our ethnic backgrounds. In Quebec they feel particularly threatened and they want to see it protected. I think we should support that.