Calgary Declaration  Mr. Speaker, it is quite interesting to see how worried the Bloc and the PQ government are about the Calgary declaration. In fact, it shows just how many values Canadians, Quebeckers and other Canadians have in common. The fact that they are able to agree on the basis of these values shows that we do not have to separate and that we should stay together.

Calgary Declaration  Mr. Speaker, I think that the hon. member has a hearing problem. We have just said that there is no special status; there is a recognition of a fundamental dimension of Canada. Rather than letting its leader make inept statements on Canada in Alberta, the Reform Party is certainly welcome to go to Quebec to talk about the Calgary declaration.

Calgary Declaration  Mr. Speaker, national unity is not a partisan matter. We have serious differences with the Reform Party, as the hon. member can see every day, but we share one and the same country, one that needs to be preserved, and preserve it we will, regardless of our disagreements.

Calgary Declaration  Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada welcomes any initiative, any effort made by the members of this Parliament who want to have a positive dialogue with Quebeckers, and I am sure that the Reform Party will learn a great deal from Quebeckers in the process.

Calgary Declaration  Mr. Speaker, I think that the hon. member is the champion of confusion.

Calgary Declaration  However, we disagreed with the Reform Party on this issue because the Reform Party regarded distinct society as a special status while we did not see it that way. In the Calgary declaration, this misunderstanding has been eliminated. Anything that is available to one province will also be available to the others.

Canadian Unity  Mr. Speaker, if I may reassure the member, the forces of Canadian unity are now overtaking Quebec's separatist forces.

Canadian Unity  Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member will accept that what he said is wrong. It is nonsense. He knows that we are working very hard. All the parties believe in unity for Canada. The results are promising. We must keep going. A good way to do it would be for he and his party to be strongly behind supporting the Calgary declaration.

Minister Of Intergovernmental Affairs  Mr. Speaker, democracy would have been better served had a clear question been put to the people. Then, it would have been clear how much Quebeckers wanted to remain within Canada. Support for the yes side would not have been artificially inflated for the sole purpose of winning the referendum, with a separation they did not want in the first place forced on Quebeckers.

Minister Of Intergovernmental Affairs  Mr. Speaker, once again, it is a question of semantics. We are not talking about Quebec's plan, but the plan to secede that Quebeckers have rejected twice already.

Minister Of Intergovernmental Affairs  Mr. Speaker, first, we are not talking about Quebec but about the PQ government. Second, the leader of the official opposition in the National Assembly, Mr. Johnson, described the question as fraudulent. Third, the Prime Minister challenged the Bloc to put the question clearly.

Minister Of Intergovernmental Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has said and is saying that Quebeckers have the right to not lose Canada to confusion and repeated trickery.

Quebec's Civil Code  Mr. Speaker, Canada has the tremendous good fortune to be a bilingual country with both its languages international. Canada is also a multicultural nation, giving us many footholds throughout the world. Canada has access to Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic civilizations. But Canada also has another strength that we can turn to the advantage of all Canadians, and that is Quebec's Civil Code, which makes us bijural.

Calgary Declaration  No, Mr. Speaker, it is not eroding. However, if ever the separatists were to put a clear question to the people, they would see that the majority of Quebeckers want to remain in Canada and want nothing to do with their proposal, and that is where the erosion would be.

Calgary Declaration  Mr. Speaker, the provincial premiers are doing a good job under the circumstances. However, let me give you an example of a phoney consultation. I am alluding to a referendum question to choose a country, in which reference was made to a bill on the future of Quebec and to an agreement signed on June 12.