Madam Speaker, I am also very pleased to address the motion moved by the Bloc Quebecois. First, let me say that I intend to oppose this motion. However, I would like to explain why I hope Quebec will never take a chance and go for the secessionist gamble.
For obvious reasons, French speaking communities in the other provinces have special ties with Quebeckers. We speak the same language and we may share more intimately certain episodes of our history. As a Canadian and a francophone, I am obviously concerned by the political situation in Quebec, and I hope that province will continue to be part of our country.
There are of course many similarities between French speaking Quebeckers and francophones from other parts of Canada. However, the context in which we live is very different. Francophones who live outside Quebec are in a minority position in three ways. They are a minority on the continent, in their country and in their province. French speaking Quebeckers are also in a minority on the continent and in their country, but they form a majority in their province.
Linguistic and cultural insecurity can partly explain the desire of some Quebeckers to opt for secession. We francophones living outside Quebec are particularly apt to understand this feeling of insecurity.
We know, however, that the French language is not threatened in Quebec and that it is becoming even more prevalent in that province. Data from the last census shows that Quebec is more francophone than ever and that the future of francophones in Quebec have never been so promising. We can only be thrilled about the vitality of the French language in Quebec because, as francophones outside Quebec, we also benefit from this strengthening of the francophone community in our country. What affects Quebeckers affects us as well.
My community has been called on to face special challenges. The linguistic and cultural uncertainty experienced by Quebeckers is felt by us even more intensely. We believe in solidarity among the country's francophones and we have always counted on Quebec's influence within the country to ensure francophone communities from coast to coast to coast the cultural vitality needed for their development. That is why we oppose Quebec secession.
The history of our country has been marked from the start with a French presence that has influenced our collective journey. Our language is part of our Constitution. The Official Languages Act recognizes our country's linguistic duality and prescribes the use of both official languages in every institution of the Canadian Parliament and government. As for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it ensures the growth of the French language and culture, along with the many initiatives implemented by the Canadian government to this end.
We owe this official recognition to generations of francophones from coast to coast who asserted their rights. That does not mean that justice was always easily achieved. As is the case with any minority, the historical journey of francophones outside Quebec had its dark moments. We still have to assert our language rights today.
All these struggles have created between members of my community ties of solidarity that make us strong and proud. And we have confidence in our future and in that of our country as a whole. The Canada in which I live is no longer the one that existed under Regulation 17 in Ontario.
Canada's francophones are proud of what this country has become. They have helped Canada to become what it is today, a country distinguished by its openness and its tolerance. These great human values are the essence of Canadian ideals. Francophones and anglophones have learned to live together and to grow in mutual respect. Naturally there have been some obstacles along the way but no one can dispute that Canadians have achieved a degree of maturity to which Quebeckers have greatly contributed. We have achieved this because we have worked together, not divided.
Nobody can ask me to be indifferent to the political debate in Quebec. By separating from Canada, Quebec would take away a vital part of ourselves. Nobody wants to deny the right of Quebeckers to express their choice to separate from Canada if they were to do it some day with full knowledge of the facts.
It is essential that they fully understand the consequences of the action they are contemplating. One of these consequences has to do with the fate of the francophone minorities in the other provinces.
It is obvious that, by staying in Canada, Quebec is in that much better a position to promote the French fact in all regions of the country. Quebec plays a vital role in our linguistic and cultural development, as we too, for our part, help consolidate the Canadian French-speaking community.
The best proof that Canada has never held Quebec back is that its language and culture have flourished, to say nothing of Canada's promotion of the Quebec culture internationally, so that it is now associated with Canadians.
French language and culture are essential elements of the Canadian entity. They strengthen the unique character of Canada. While this vitality is due, as I have said before, to the determination shown by francophone communities across the country, it is also true that the recognition of the French fact in this country has also played an important role.
Together francophones in every region of Canada have succeeded in affirming the bilingual character of this country and have helped to give it an identity that is expressed in a genuine openness to the world.
Canadian federalism has greatly contributed to the French fact's vitality throughout the country. Canada can reap the benefits of its participation in the francophonie. Quebec also benefits from its ties with this country with the different countries of the Commonwealth.
Yes, francophones in Quebec and Canada have made a remarkable contribution to building our country. That contribution stems from a vitality specific to each of our communities. In every region francophones are inspired by the same ideal, to make live and flourish an identity enriched by their contribution to our collective heritage.
Need I say more about Quebec's exceptional contribution in this respect. Quebec should never feel this country is foreign to it because, on the contrary, it has an exceptional place within it. Canada would not be Canada without Quebec. I also think it is right to say that Quebec would not be Quebec without Canada. We francophones in other provinces need our fellow citizens of Quebec.
Our ancestors had a great dream: to help francophone communities survive in a country whose spaces were as far-reaching as its ideals. Together, we have built a land of tolerance, in which each of us can choose our own way of being Canadian without apology. Canadians know that diversity is a strength, not a weakness. It is in large measure to the maturity with which they live out this diversity that they owe their international reputation.
No one is thinking of forcing Quebeckers to stay within Canada. If I may, however, I will tell them frankly what I think: You would be making an irreparable mistake if you were to leave Canada. Why renounce a part of what you are, of what we all are? The loss would be everyone's. Canadians themselves would be irremediably diminished, and francophones outside Quebec doubly so.
Together, as francophones from western Canada, the Prairies, the territories, Manitoba, Acadia and Quebec, we have shown that those who, through their sacrifices, their hopes and their efforts, fulfilled the promise that the Fathers of Confederation saw in Canada, were right.
Together, we have made this country a wonderful success.
