Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Alliance has never been a national party, and that is even more obvious than usual today.
The Alliance is demonstrating a total lack of knowledge of Canadian reality. Not only do they insult Atlantic Canadians but they also deny the presence of two majority languages in Canada.
The leader of the Alliance associates biligualism with a religion, denouncing it, to quote his own words, as a “god that failed”. He goes on to say “Canada is not a bilingual country. In fact it is less bilingual today than it has ever been”.
The people of Canada who are in minority language situations are totally outraged by this. The Alliance's policy is aimed at dividing our country.
Since the Liberals adopted their bilingualism policy, the situation of minority language communities has improved a great deal. Members of these communities are now able to live in their language, particularly because access to services and to education has been greatly improved.
We on this side of the House respect all Canadians regardless of where they live and, particularly, what language they speak—