Thank you, Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and congratulate you on your appointment. I want to assure you of my full co-operation.
I cannot resist the temptation to put, through you, a question to our colleague, who is from Montreal and represents a constituency similar to mine in that there are very specific concerns about Montreal.
My question to the hon. member, which I hope she will answer, is this: Does she recognize that 20 years ago we were in a situation where the three leading federal parties—we tend to forget this, but a little over 20 years ago the Conservative Party, the NDP and the Liberal Party did recognize the existence of two nations or peoples in Canada. Why is it then that, for one reason or another, today, only lip service is paid to Quebec as a people or a nation, particularly on that side of the House? Is there cause for concern?
I would like to ask my hon. colleague, through you, if she recognizes Quebec as a people. This is something that can be defined objectively. Each people has its own vernacular. In this case, it happens to be French. We also have control over a territory.
There are few examples of federations in the world—and the hon. member sitting next to me is an expert on these issues—where one nation clearly has control over a territory, as is the case in Quebec. When we talk about peoples and nations, it always involves a clearly defined judicial system, as is the case in Quebec. These terms imply a will to live together, and the hon. member for Bourassa is aware of these issues.
All the objective elements are present so that the word “nations” can be used in the plural. Yet, some newspapers and political parties persist in their use of the singular form.
Will the hon. member recognize, here in this House, that Quebecers are a people, that they have a right to self-determination, and that we can count on her, should tempers flare in the coming weeks, particularly in Montreal, to discuss the issue of partition? I know the hon. member will be by my side and will say that Quebecers are a people, that they form a nation, that Quebec has a right to self-determination, and that its territory must remain intact.
Am I to understand that we will fight together for the same cause?