Mr. Speaker, I begin by congratulating the hon. member for Charlesbourg on his first speech in the House of Commons. I listened carefully to what he had to say. I also listened carefully to some of the questions his colleagues asked of colleagues of mine earlier today with respect to the understanding of the existence or non-existence of the Quebecois people.
I acknowledge the history of that notion. It is fair for the member to notice the NDP, going back to its formation in 1961, has always been ready to acknowledge that dimension of the collective existence of the Quebec people. We continue to argue that can be achieved, recognized and enhanced within the context of a continuing Canadian federalism.
One of the reasons we invite members of the Bloc and other Quebeckers to do that is that the minute we begin to give up on this notion and entertain notions of separation, we come up against the hard political and philosophical reality that it is not just the Quebecois and the Quebecoises who consider themselves a people but, for instance, the aboriginal people of Quebec are also a people. It seems to me that we invite an infinite reductionism of self-determination the minute we get into the question of separation.
Has the member not considered the difficulty that would be posed for Canada and for Quebec in the event of a separation and in the event the Cree people of Quebec decided that they, in their own democratic self-determining way, did not want to continue to be a member of Quebec as it is now understood but rather a member of what would be left of Canada after such a separation? How does he regard their democratic rights understood in that context?