Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday we unanimously adopted a motion by the member for West Nova declaring 2004 the Year of Acadia. It is appropriate to make such a solemn gesture, in this the 400th anniversary year of the founding of Acadia. My colleague benefited from the enthusiastic support of the Bloc Quebecois members, “separatist” though they are. We would have liked to have the same kind of support from him at the time of the debate on Motion M-382, following the royal proclamation last December.
Although it is appropriate to recognize the arrival of Samuel de Champlain in the Americas, 400 years ago, I believe we would also render justice to history by also pointing out the determining role played by Pierre Du Gua, Sieur de Mons, in the founding of Acadia.
Curiously, the Liberals have chosen the end of April, with an election looming, to make this gesture. I had put forward the proposal by the general assembly of the Société nationale de l'Acadie here in this House on June 12, 2003. As in the case of the motion recognizing National Acadian Day, this manoeuvre appears to have been carried out with the sole purpose of trying to make the public forget the Liberal government's dubious role in the debate on acknowledging the deportation.