Mr. Speaker, when I hear reactions like that, I realize that it is a prophecy which is fulfilled every time there is a failure. The Bloc québécois’s aim is to create failure upon failure; it is a litany of lamentations. Yes, the Bloc québécois was created in the wake of the Meech Lake accord, that is a fact, but the entire membership of the Bloc, who at the time were péquistes or strong supporters of Quebec sovereignty, worked hard to kill the Meech Lake accord and the Charlottetown accord. When that happened, they started howling because they got what they wanted. That is what it is to be constantly complaining about one’s lot. That is what drives the members of the Bloc. Instead of taking a constructive approach, instead of tabling a motion today to have Quebec’s status as a nation recognized in the Constitution, which is what four out of five Quebeckers want, they moan and table a motion that puts the conclusion before the premise. That is the way the Bloc québécois thinks: the conclusion comes first. That does not work, so they state the premise. The reason it does not work is there is never going to be a way to give them what they want. What they want is not an improvement or change in Quebec’s constitutional status within Canada. Their sole objective is to say they are leaving. The problem is that our institutions are taken for granted.
There is another problem. When Jacques Parizeau said, as he bowed out of political life, that there was an inescapable duty to the million Francophones outside Quebec, was that just a beautiful line from Jean-François Lisée? Are they going to put their heads down and continue fighting to make Quebec insignificant in the House through their morbid actions, or are they going to build for the future? That is the difference between our two political parties.
I will end my comments on the historical role of the NDP by saying that the member for Toronto-Centre, who at the time was Premier of Ontario, was one of the leaders who fought for the Meech Lake accord. It was the biggest province, it had an NDP government, and that is part of the history of the NDP.