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MINISTER DION STATES THAT A COUNTRY GIVES ITSELF THE BEST
CHANCES OF IMPROVING IF ALL ITS CITIZENS ADHERE TO
THE PRINCIPLE OF LOYALTY
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, July 16, 2003 – In connection with his collaboration
on a work entitled Être gouverné – Studies in Honour of Jean Leca,
published on June 24 by Presses de Sciences Po in Paris, the Honourable
Stéphane Dion, President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental
Affairs, demonstrated that "it would be impossible to govern in a
political system in which secession were a right automatically granted on demand."
Entitled "Democratic Governance and the Principle of Territorial
Integrity," Minister Dion’s text highlights the loyalty that must
unite all citizens living in a democratic society: "Democracy, in
effect, calls on 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 wish to transform into foreigners. So there is a contradiction between
democracy and secession which makes these two notions hard to reconcile."
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For information :
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André Lamarre
Senior Advisor
Telephone: (613) 943-1838
Fax: (613) 943-5553
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