Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent a party that, for decades, has supported recognition of Quebeckers' nationhood.
Quebeckers are an important people within Canada, a people with an amazing 400-year history, an extraordinary people, proud of their values, proud of their history, an important people not only here in Canada, but around the world and in la Francophonie.
We are proud of Quebec. I am proud to have been born in Quebec and to have grown up there, proud that my grandfather was a minister in the Government of Quebec. I am proud, like anyone who lives or has lived in Quebec and who knows that Quebeckers form a nation.
We have long supported this concept, because it is a question of respect for our fellow citizens who live in Quebec. As well, we have found that there has been a huge lack of respect for Quebeckers in past years. There are many examples of this: the scandals, when people sought support in Quebec with unacceptable behaviour or with a right-wing policy—not a social democratic policy that reflects Quebeckers' values—a bellicose policy that does not reflect the sort of society in which the vast majority of Quebeckers want to live.
What is needed at this moment in time is to show respect for Quebeckers by helping to build across this country the kind of country that all Quebeckers would want to remain a part of, and that is a social democratic Canada. A social democratic Canada that would put to the forefront values that we see so many Quebeckers embracing, the concept of a society that builds on assisting one another, with child care, with affordable housing, and with advanced policies on the environment. This is the best way to build the kind of Canada in which Quebeckers will find themselves a positive place.
Our party has been very proud to stand in support of the policy that supports the concept of the national character of Quebeckers and we will continue to do so.
Now is the time for us to build on this concept, to show all Quebeckers that they are respected in the heart of the greatest country in the world, a country that we all are attempting to build to be a model for the entire world. By showing that there is a place for Quebeckers here, we can send a strong signal about how a nation like Canada, a people like the Canadian people, can work in all of its diversity to accomplish the goals that everyone in the world shares.