Mr. Speaker, the inaugural speech by the Premier of Quebec was far from impressive. In it, he announced that he would step up efforts to attack the federal government and to sell the concept of separation.
This sounds more like a speech to a partisan sovereignist group than a speech by a government.
One would have liked the Premier of Quebec to state his intention to work in good faith with the federal government in order to settle some major issues.
One would have liked to hear his proposals for at least attempting to improve Canadian federalism.
One would have liked to hear Lucien Bouchard telling us whether he would respect the decision taken by Quebeckers in the last referendum, as well as telling us that he had properly understood the meaning of the results of the last election in Quebec.
Instead, we were treated to the prospect in the months to come of nothing but disdain and confrontation from the sovereignist government. A pleasant prospect indeed.