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Archives - Press Room


MINISTER DION OUTLINES HIS VISION OF CANADA


LÉVIS, QUEBEC, February 26, 1997 – Speaking to an audience of the Chambre de commerce de la Rive-Sud, the President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Stéphane Dion, explained what makes Canada an extraordinary country. "The true greatness of Canada is its human potential," he said, adding that "different populations can accomplish great things when they decide to be together."

Mr. Dion emphasized that "Quebec as it stands today, our majority Francophone society that stands out in a majority Anglophone continent, is also part of Canada’s success." "Canada’s success is Quebec’s success, and vice versa" stated the Minister.

In response to the Premier of Quebec, who suggested recently that Quebecers are not Canadians, the Minister stressed that "no one should feel obliged to choose between Quebec and Canada [...]. Together, the Quebec identity and the Canadian identity form a remarkable complementarity. It is a mistake to see them as being opposed to each other, especially at the dawn of a century in which plural identities will be a strength more than ever before." "I say on the contrary that being born both a Quebecer and a Canadian is a remarkable opportunity," he added.

The Minister also noted that "we Quebecers have contributed too strongly to Canada to give it up." He pointed out that "the OECD forecasts that Canada will be number one among G7 countries over the next two years not only in terms of balancing its budget, but also in terms of economic and job growth. We owe this achievement, of course, to the discipline shown by all Canadians, but, in particular, to the determination of three federal ministers from Quebec: Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Marcel Massé. They have enabled all of Canada to benefit from Quebec know-how."

In that connection, the Minister emphasized that "the budget tabled by Canada’s Finance Minister last week is a further illustration of the advantages of our federation and its capacity for ongoing renewal." Responding to Minister Bernard Landry, who criticized the federal budget by saying it is further proof of the so-called centralized nature of the Canadian federation, the Minister pointed out that "the federal government’s own spending accounts for only 38% of total public spending (26% if we exclude debt servicing)."

In response to accusations by the Bloc québécois and the Parti québécois that "Quebec doesn’t get its share", Mr. Dion noted that Quebec, "which accounts for one quarter of the Canadian population, receives 31% of federal spending on transfers, of which 46% is equalization payments. That’s not bad for a federal system that Mr. Landry describes as ‘predatory’," the Minister observed.

"Everyone knows full well that we have the best chances to succeed within a union of all Canadians, not in the tumult of secession," the Minister stated. "Secession would do more than weaken us economically. It would weaken the strong ties of solidarity that unite Quebecers, beyond our linguistic and ethnic differences, as well as those equally strong ties that unite Quebecers with their fellow citizens in the Atlantic provinces, Ontario, Western Canada and Northern Canada."

"The fact is that Canada is a success, and will be an even greater success once Quebecers and other Canadians have resolutely decided to stay together," the Minister noted, adding that he is "not against secession because I believe that we Quebecers are incapable of running our own independent state. I feel that we are called to a greater ideal: that of continuing to improve the wonderful economic and social success that is Canada; of fighting the scourges of unemployment and poverty alongside our fellow citizens in the other provinces."

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For information:
André Lamarre
Press Secretary
(613) 943-1838
 


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Last Modified: 1997-02-26  Important Notices