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MINISTER DION DECLARES THAT SPAIN AND CANADA HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO SHOW THE WORLD THE ADVANTAGES OF THE PLURALISM OF LANGUAGES AND CULTURES WITHIN THE SAME STATE

MADRID, SPAIN, December 13, 2002 – Speaking at a ceremony awarding him an Honorary Doctorate at the Carlos III University of Madrid, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, related how much his intellectual development owed to his contacts with Spain.

In his speech, the Minister expressed his appreciation that a prestigious Spanish university should bestow such an accolade upon him and he conveyed his gratitude to his family, his professors, his university colleagues and Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. The Minister then described the decisive role Spain has played in the advancement of democracy at the close of the 20^th Century.

The Minister stated that, when he was 20 years old and a political science student in the mid-70s, such a breakthrough in democracy seemed improbable. At the time, Latin America, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and part of Mediterranean Europe were under the yoke of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, he recalled. Besides, he added, collectivist theories were in vogue. "Some trends of political sociology saw a determinism in national cultures such that, for example, they reasoned there was an almost insurmountable incompatibility between Catholic and Latin countries and so-called Anglo-Saxon-style democracy. The Marxist trend, for its part, announced the inevitable advent of communist collectivism."

What happened in the years that followed was the very opposite of a contraction of democratic space and individual freedom, Mr. Dion indicated. "Humanity experienced one of the most positive phenomena in its entire history: the dazzling advance of democracy on all continents. And where did that global disturbance come from? From Greece, from Portugal, from Spain, in short from the Mediterranean, eternal cradle of civilization."

The Minister emphasized Spain’s role in this fortunate development: "I have long thought that one of the heroes of the 20th century is your king, His Majesty Juan Carlos I. Rather than listening to the fatalistic voices claiming that the Latin peoples were not made for democracy, he believed in the democratic destiny of a Spain ready to assume its pluralism. Through that belief, it was not only the destiny of Spain that was played out, but perhaps, that of humanity as well."

Mr. Dion also spoke of the relationships between liberal democracy and nationalisms such as those found in multicultural and multilingual countries like Spain and Canada. The Minister explored ways to ensure that nationalism can be a principle of mutual assistance and not an incitement to turns inwards or even to hate others. "I believe the answer lies in consistently promoting pluralism of identities. In a liberal society, it must be accepted that citizens have different ways of defining themselves in relation to the community. The important thing is that this pluralism of collective identities creates a dynamic conducive to mutual assistance and understanding," said the President of the Privy Council adding that he refuses to choose between his Quebec and his Canadian identities.

Mr. Dion described how his experience with Spain and its current national debates helped him realize to what extent the debate in Quebec, as to whether to accept or reject a Canadian belonging, is universal in nature: "I told myself that Canada could do better, at the dawn of a new century, than offering the world the spectacle of its break-up. On the contrary, it had to show the rest of the world that it was both possible and desirable to have populations of different languages and cultures living together in mutual assistance, tolerance and harmony within a single state."

There is a contradiction between secession and democracy which makes these two notions difficult to reconcile, the Minister stated. "I am convinced that democracy urges us to accept all our fellow citizens, without distinction of race, religion or regional belonging. Secession, for its part, is equivalent to choosing from among our fellow citizens those we accept and those we want to transform into foreigners. It is not the vocation of citizens in a democracy to transform themselves into foreigners in relation to one another."

"I owe that conviction, in part, to the exchanges I have had with citizens of your country," added Mr. Dion.

The Minister is of the opinion that a country gives itself the best chances of improving when all its citizens feel a strong solidarity to one another and when they see their differences of language, culture or religion as complementary, never as a threat or a source of division. "I know this is the ideal you are pursuing in Spain, encouraged by your success, and without backing away from a terrorism that the government I belong to firmly condemns on behalf of all Canadians."

The contexts are different, but the quest of both Spaniards and Canadians is the same, declared the Minister. "Know that you are not alone in your efforts to build a society ever more tolerant and open to its own diversity. Canadians, as well, clearly see that their country will not progress toward greater well-being and prosperity except through unity in diversity."

Mr. Dion concluded by saying: "That, at least, is what a life filled with travel, study and action has taught me. The significance of the honorary doctorate you are awarding me today is above all an encouragement to me to continue this quest for the ideal of freedom and human solidarity."

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