MINISTER DION SAYS CANADA IS A SUCCESS
THAT WILL CONTINUE

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, November 21, 1997 – Stéphane Dion, President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, today told an audience at the biennial conference of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) that he is confident that Canada will remain united.

Speaking as "a proud Quebecer and a proud Canadian," Mr. Dion observed that most of his fellow Quebecers also "believe Canada is a success. They believe it's great to be both a Quebecer and a Canadian." After reviewing some of Canada's successes at home and abroad, the Minister emphasized that "Quebecers have played a key role in making Canada what it is today . . . And within Quebec, we have built a society that, like Canada as a whole, is caring, respectful of diversity, tolerant and democratic."

"When they see how successful Quebec has been within Canada, certain people make the mistake of thinking that some Quebecers want to secede because Quebec is less tolerant than the rest of Canada," the Minister continued. "That is not the case. Quebec is a wonderful society. The problem is not Quebec society, it is secession as such. Secession is the type of issue that can breed intolerance and division in even the most tolerant and democratic societies." Mr. Dion noted that "Quebec nationalism is civic rather than ethnic and, when expressed with openness and channelled towards the good of all Canadians, it can be a positive force for our country."

However, Mr. Dion observed that those Quebecers who believe they need to secede in order to protect their Quebec identity are wrong: "Quebecers have achieved a great deal within Canada, both in our own province and in working with other Canadians for the good of the country as a whole. Why should my fellow Quebecers have to give up one dimension of our identity, one dimension of our achievements?"

Mr. Dion also took time to address certain misconceptions that exist about Quebec and Canada. For example, the Minister noted that critics of Puerto Rico's achieving statehood and those of Welsh and Scottish devolution expressed fear about the creation of "Quebecs" in the United States and Britain respectively. Mr. Dion indicated that his dream is that the reverse will be said: "Look, we can be comfortable with our own minorities and accept them in their difference . . . . Look at how a strong Quebec identity has been good for Canada."

"Quebec is not a failure, Canada is not a failure, but secession would be," the Minister concluded."In the next century, when the main challenge of many states will be how to have differentpopulations living together, Canada will be needed more than ever as a model of tolerance and openness."

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