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"ATLANTIC PROVINCES HAVE A KEY ROLE
TO PLAY IN THE UNITY OF CANADA"
NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS
ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
NOVEMBER 12, 1997
As you probably all know by now, I entered politics to fight against secession.
So I'm particularly glad to be here in Nova Scotia again, as it is the cradle of
responsible government in Canada. It was the first province that understood that
secession is not the way to go. In 1868, Joseph Howe crossed the Atlantic,
taking a petition about Nova Scotia's wish to secede from Confederation to
London, where it was rejected. Mr. Howe then set aside his secessionist
ambitions and came to work at the Privy Council -- in my job! Almost 130 years
later, Premier Bouchard crossed the Atlantic, hoping for a resounding
endorsement of Quebec secession in Paris. He didn't get it either.
I should tell you that, when my nine-year-old
daughter Jeanne asks me when I'm going to go back to teaching so that she can
see me more often, I tell her it depends on Mr. Bouchard. That means it may be a
long time before I go back to academia, as there is little chance that Mr.
Bouchard will keep following in the steps of Mr. Howe! Joking aside, one reason
why I want Quebec to remain in Canada is that I want to keep Nova Scotia and the
other Atlantic provinces as part of my country. I want my daughter to grow up
with your region still a part of her future. Every time I visit the Atlantic
provinces, I am struck by the beauty of your scenery. But it is not the scenery
that most makes me want to keep Nova Scotia as part of my country, it is you, my
fellow citizens, the people of Nova Scotia.
Today, I want to encourage each and every one of
you to take part in the public consultations on the Calgary Declaration. I think
the principles the premiers have drawn up are an important step in both keeping
our country together and defining where we want Canada to go in the 21st
century. But before I discuss the Calgary Declaration, I want to talk briefly
about Nova Scotia and your neighbouring Atlantic provinces. I want to talk about
the important role you play in our remarkable country and the future you
deserve. Atlantic Canada: taking steps towards a brighter future
Atlantic Canada has a long and rich history.
Centuries before Samuel de Champlain built Port Royal, Viking sailors landed on
your shores. And, of course, the Mi'kmaq nation has been here for thousands of
years. Since the arrival of the first European settlers, your region has been
synonymous with ocean-going pursuits. But it is not just your seafaring
tradition and natural resources that draw national attention. Your people do
too. Atlantic politicians like Frank McKenna and Senator Peggy Butts show
Canadians the true meaning of public service. Internationally famous performers
like Rita MacNeil and Ashley MacIsaac bring warmth and vitality to our music
scene. And what would federal politicians do on Monday nights in Ottawa without
"This Hour Has 22 Minutes"? I finally felt that I had arrived in
politics when they poked fun at me for talking about Canada stretching from
Vancouver to Halifax, rather than Victoria to St. John's!
As Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, I have
been following the changes taking place in Atlantic Canada. And I can assure you
that I spent a lot longer on Newfoundland's proposed school amendment in recent
months than I did writing letters to the secessionist government in Quebec City!
The more I find out, the more I am convinced that your provinces have a future
as bright as your history is rich. However, there is no doubt that today your
provinces are dealing with a number of challenges. Some Atlantic Canadians are
concerned about losing traditional livelihoods. Others are seeing their young
people leave the region to find jobs in their fields. However, I should point
out that some are starting to come back, including Premier McLellan! Like my
province, Quebec, the four Atlantic provinces presently form a less economically
advantaged region of Canada. Both levels of government have had to take
difficult decisions, which have brought about many sacrifices on the part of
Atlantic Canadians. However, as Prime Minister Jean Chrétien told the Atlantic
Vision conference, these changes were necessary "both to get the fiscal
house in order and to prepare the economy of Atlantic Canada and all of Canada
for the 21st century."
Your governments and people have responded to
fiscal constraint with innovation and determination. And I am confident that
Atlantic Canadians will be well-positioned to reap the dividends that come from
a growing modern economy. There are more and more reasons for confidence.
For starters, a number of your industries are
performing strongly, providing evidence of a dynamic economy, able to compete
globally and attract investment. You are pulling together to build a brighter
future for your region, as the Atlantic Vision conference showed. Your economic
growth in 1998 is forecast to be 3.1%, which is higher than the national rate.
And new projects like Hibernia, Voisey's Bay, and Sable Island gas here in Nova
Scotia, are potential engines of future growth. As the Governor of Maine
recently quipped in Moncton, "we're going to be Texas without the
rattlesnakes."
However, the absence of these reptiles is far
from being your region's only attraction. Four of your cities -- St. John's,
Halifax, Charlottetown and Moncton -- came out on top of a recent KPMG
international study of competitiveness in business costs. So companies looking
for a beachhead in NAFTA will doubtless be drawn to what you have to offer, not
only economically, but also in terms of quality of life. After all, the Atlantic
provinces have always been known for their warm welcome -- indeed, North
America's oldest social group, the Order of Good Cheer, was founded by the
original Francophone settlers of Nova Scotia.
Already, industries such as tourism, information
technology, telecommunications, aquaculture and oceanographic research are
providing signs of vitality and promise in the Atlantic economy. Frankly, anyone
who thinks that the Atlantic provinces are economic backwaters should take a
look at the way Atlantic governments and businesspeople are turning the region's
economy around.
We must all work together to build a stronger
Atlantic region and a stronger Canada. The Atlantic provinces have a bright
future within Canada. I want to share that future by keeping Nova Scotia and its
neighbours as part of my country. Even though Atlantic politicians and people
have been very busy in the last few years working to get your fiscal house in
order, you should be commended for never neglecting the work of keeping our
country together. In fact, you have been leaders on this front. And my message
to you today, as the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and as a Canadian, is
please keep up the good work!
The Calgary Declaration
At the close of his emotional, final speech as
Premier of New Brunswick, Frank McKenna described our country in the following
words. He said:
"it's a country that's been able to embrace
within its bosom two founding cultures, française et anglaise, and to live
together in respect and in harmony and to enrich ourselves from each other's
culture. This is a joy and a blessing that few nations in the world have ever
experienced. . . . It's a country that has the civility to be able to deal with
the most difficult issues in the most peaceful way imaginable. . . . It's a
country where we've been able to produce a world-quality free health care system
as a mark of our generosity."
If I'd been trying to capture the spirit and
values behind the Calgary Declaration in words, I could not have put it better
myself -- certainly not in English!
I want to congratulate Premiers MacLellan,
McKenna, Tobin and Binns for the important roles they have played in bringing
about this declaration of principles. And I want to pay tribute to the
Opposition leaders in the Atlantic provinces who have put aside party politics
to play a positive role.
I am very optimistic about the Calgary
Declaration because, for once, the values we share as Canadians were the first
thing to be put on the table. The premiers did not cobble together a compromise
and ask Canadians to swallow it, even if it tasted bad. Instead, they have tried
to put together a declaration of principles with which all Canadians can
identify. I'm not saying the Calgary Declaration is perfect. But the premiers
have provided us with a fine starting point for defining our future together as
Canadians.
Today, I want to talk about some key points in
the Declaration: how it reconciles equality with diversity; how it recognizes
the uniqueness of Quebec; and the importance of public consultation in the
process it has started. Balancing equality with diversity The principle
that all Canadians are equal -- both as human beings and as citizens -- is
fundamental to the idea of democracy. It is recognized explicitly in the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, especially in Section 15, which
guarantees all Canadians the right to equality before and under the law. So
there is no problem in recognizing, as the Calgary Declaration does, that the
equality of citizens is a basic Canadian value. Equality is not a Reform or
Liberal principle, or a Tory or NDP one -- it is a principle to which all
Canadians are committed.
I am also very comfortable with the equality of
status of our provinces. There is only one status for provinces in Canada --
either you are a province, or you are not. All ten Canadian provinces have the
same legal powers and the same relationship with their citizens and the federal
government. And if one or more provinces should acquire powers not foreseen in
1867, it is entirely natural that they be offered to all the other provinces as
well. Some provinces may decide not to exercise them, but they should have the
option.
We must also be clear about what the equality of
provinces would not mean. Equality does not mean homogeneity or uniformity.
Recognizing that the provinces have equal legal status does not mean ignoring
that they have different needs. It would not mean, for example, that the
Atlantic region would cease to benefit from the frigate program or the support
provided by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to the region's industries.
Nor would it undermine Canada's equalization program. The principle of
equalization is enshrined in section 36 of the Constitution "to ensure that
provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable
levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation." And
equal status for the provinces would not take away PEI's guaranteed minimum
number of MPs, as some in that province have feared. As Premier Tobin put it in
September, Canadians "recognize that PEI needs a minimum amount of
representation to have an effective voice in Parliament."
Canadians like the flexibility of our federation
and are very comfortable with its diversity. Indeed, Canadian pride and identity
are perhaps unique in the world in that, on top of being very discreet, it is
based upon the celebration of diversity and difference. That is why diversity
has been included as another key principle of the Calgary Declaration.
For who could deny that Canada is a diverse
country? It is obvious that Nova Scotia is different from British Columbia and
from Newfoundland. It is obvious that the First Nations and Inuit, the French
and British settlers, and more recent generations of immigrants from every
corner of the globe, have given our country an amazingly rich and diverse
cultural fabric. As Canadians, we respect the fact that each province, each of
our cultural communities has its own way of being Canadian. And in a world where
countries are being torn apart by cultural differences, this ability to live
with diversity is a great Canadian strength and an example to the international
community. The Calgary Declaration's recognition and celebration of the
diversity of Canada is both fitting and positive. It is within this context --
the context of equality and diversity -- that the Calgary Declaration recognizes
the uniqueness of Quebec.
The unique character of Quebec The unique
character of Quebec is one aspect of Canada's diversity that almost all
Canadians believe is fundamental to Canadian identity. Quebec is the only
majority-Francophone province, the only majority-Francophone jurisdiction in an
overwhelmingly English-speaking North America. Quebec's language, culture and
civil law are definitely unique elements of our country. This is an obvious
sociological fact that nobody denies. But when it comes to formally recognizing
this fact, particularly within the Constitution, there is some hesitation. Some
fear that recognizing what is unique about one province would undermine the
principles of equality of citizens and provinces to which we are committed. They
think it might imply special status for Quebec.
I think that is why the Calgary Declaration has
appealed to people all across Canada: because it puts recognition of Quebec's
unique character within a broader commitment to equality and diversity. At the
same time, as Premier Binns said, the Declaration "sends a positive signal
to Quebec." An Angus Reid poll taken right after it was released showed
that 70% of Canadians, including 79% of the residents of the Atlantic provinces
and 62% of Quebecers, said that the Declaration was a step in the right
direction. And a recent Environics poll showed that 27% of Quebecers who
presently support secession would change their minds if all nine provinces
passed resolutions recognizing the unique character of Quebec.
Consultation with Canadians With broad public
consultations on the principles of the Calgary Declaration, the provinces may
come up with resolutions to be passed in legislatures across the country. These
resolutions would be a strong signal to all governments about the basic values
Canadians share, and a strong signal to Quebecers that among these values is an
acceptance of Quebec's unique reality. Such resolutions would be important in
themselves.
But it must be emphasized that the Declaration is
not a constitutional amendment. It is, instead, a statement of principles about
the kind of Canada we want for the 21st century. With the current secessionist
government in Quebec, it would be pointless to propose a constitutional
amendment along these lines. The secessionist leaders want to break up our
country, not reaffirm its basic values. As Premier MacLellan put it this
September, "constitutional change will only come when Quebec has a
government interested in talking about the Constitution."
It is possible that, in the future, a federalist
Quebec government may be interested in putting an amendment based on the Calgary
Declaration into our Constitution. But, in the meantime, I encourage all
Atlantic Canadians to continue your provinces' sterling contribution to national
unity by taking part in the consultations on the Calgary Declaration, in
whatever forum your province is proposing: town halls, the Internet, making a
submission to a legislative committee or simply writing to your representative
in the provincial legislature. As Premier MacLellan said, "the people want
to be heard." I encourage you to make sure that the voices of Nova Scotia
and your Atlantic neighbours are heard from coast to coast to coast.
Conclusion
To conclude, I would like to thank all the people
at St. Mary's University who have worked so hard to give me this opportunity to
speak with you. To paraphrase John Crosbie, you can tell who the people from
Nova Scotia are in Heaven, they're all the ones who want to go home. And I would
add that in Heaven you can also tell who the people are who have visited Nova
Scotia, because they wouldn't mind the chance to go back either!
There are three main points I wanted to make
today. First, that Nova Scotia and the Atlantic provinces have a bright future
-- a future that I want to continue to share with you as a fellow Canadian.
Second, that the principles of the Calgary Declaration are based on Canadian
values, and the people of the Atlantic provinces can support them without
reservation. And third, that public consultations are a key part of the process,
and I encourage you to participate in them. By discussing what we have in common
as Nova Scotians, as Quebecers and, above all, as Canadians, I am convinced that
we will realize that we share the same basic values, the same hopes for our
future. And once we realize that we share our deepest beliefs, we will all
decide that we want to build that future together, in this remarkable country.
Check against delivery.
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