Notes for an address at the
"Celebration of Canada Stampede Breakfast"

Calgary, Alberta

July 6, 1996

I am very happy to be with you here in Calgary at this Celebration of Canada Stampede Breakfast. For anybody who grew up reading comic books like Lucky Luke, the man whose shot is quicker than his shadow, being at the Calgary Stampede is like a childhood dream.

It is a dream come true for a Quebec City kid especially, because we share with Calgarians a love of a carnival atmosphere. I'm sure that many Calgary kids are dreaming of coming to Quebec City in the winter for the "Carnaval d'hiver". This is why it is so appropriate that Calgary and Quebec City are twin cities, and that each year a Quebec City delegation visits the Stampede, and a Calgary delegation visits Carnaval.

I understand that Prince Charles while on a trip to Alberta when he was younger said he was tired of receiving cowboy hats as gifts. Well, I'm not tired of getting them, as I don't have one yet. I'm still hoping to get my first.

When I was in Calgary last month at the Canadian Federation of Municipalities conference, the Prime Minister was given a cowboy hat, and I was thinking I'd get one too. They gave me a very nice back pack instead. I didn't offer to trade with Mr. Chrétien on the way back! But with a hat or without, I'd like to thank Pat Raymaker and Tony Friend for inviting me to share with you my views on the future of our country.

Last January, a few days before I left the university to become a minister, in response to the Prime Minister's request to me to join his team and help keep Canada together, I was here in Alberta giving speeches in Lethbridge and Calgary about the referendum. At that time, and each time I have come to Alberta and the West, I have been very moved by the strong support I have heard for our fight for a united Canada.

I know that there is a strong will here to find reconciliation. Everywhere in Canada, there are voices of jealousy and anger. But while they are vocal, they are a minority. We will not give up on Canada.

I am optimistic because I know that all together, with the good will of all of us who believe in our country, we cannot fail.

There is no question that Canadians are too shy about their country. We do not find it easy to be emotional or patriotic about Canada.

To me, this is a virtue. I dislike countries that display excessive chauvinism and mindless patriotism. But we must be unafraid to celebrate Canada and what we have in common as Canadians.

We all know that Sir Wilfrid Laurier said that the 20th century would belong to Canada. Usually, we think of this as a joke -- Laurier said the century would belong to us, but instead it has belonged to the United States, most people say. But think about it -- perhaps Laurier was right, after all. A hundred years ago, Canada had almost no industry and a very small population, thinly spread across the continent.

Friedrich Engels, the German philosopher and partner of Karl Marx -- who probably doesn't get quoted a lot in Calgary -- wrote that Canada was a railway looking for a country. Well, if you look around in one of those original railway towns like Calgary, today this railway has found its country.

This country is consistently rated number 1 or 2 in the world by the United Nations and the World Bank for its quality of life and its economic potential.

When you compare us to the other countries of the world, the citizens of very few other countries can expect to live such long and healthy lives. We have the second lowest rate of infant mortality in the world.

We have a solid democracy and a judicial system which is envied by most countries on earth.

Canada is one of the top five countries in the OECD in terms of per capita income and per capita GDP.

From 1960 to 1990 Canada was number two in the G-7 in terms of economic growth and number one in terms of job creation.

Our successes in arts, culture, and sports are known throughout the world. We will all cheer our athletes on this summer in Atlanta. Calgary symbolizes Canada's achievements in these areas, having hosted the Winter Olympics in 1988, and now looking forward to holding a world's fair with Expo 2005.

Yes, we still have too high a rate of poverty and unemployment, but around the world, our country is seen as a promised land, an unfinished country full of opportunity.

We see this admiration for Canada whenever we travel abroad. In fact, we can even hear it in the expressions other people use involving Canada.

In Brazil, when somebody wants to turn on a light switch, they say "turn on the Canada." In Poland, a financial success is called "having a Canada."

In Yemen, people make their bread with "Canada", as Canada is used as a word for wheat in their language. And in France, when somebody wants to buy apples, they often ask for "Canadas" -- their word for MacIntosh -- and when they want to put out forest fires, they refer to the water bombers as "Canadairs."  And I am sure that our "Canadarm" on the Space Shuttle will give the alien creatures from Independence Day a good Canadian expression in the future!

How did we come to hold this place of honour in so many spheres of human and economic achievement? How did we come to be so admired around the world?

The land and the weather of Canada were hardships for the original settlers, but those pioneers who built our country turned them into assets.

We were blessed with rich soil for farming, and rich earth that has yielded gold and oil. But we didn't sleep on it. We didn't simply count on our natural resources: we developed our human capacities.

After Finland and Switzerland, Canada spends the highest amount of any country on education. Today we have the highest rate of university graduates in the world.

This nation of hewers of wood and drawers of water has come to lead the world in fields as diverse as civil engineering, fibre optic communications, public transportation, and advanced medical research.

When I consider all of our accomplishments, I cannot believe that our political institutions had nothing to do with it.

We are lucky to be a federation, for federations, especially Canada, have the ability to combine the strengths of national solidarity and respect for local autonomy.

We are lucky to have two international languages as our official languages -- this gives us two windows to the international world, and is a real asset for Canada.

We are fortunate that our spirit of tolerance and generosity has allowed our immigrants to give their best to this country.

Canada has received a lot from the rest of the world, and in return we have been a good citizen of the world. We can proudly say that in this century, Canada has never sent troops abroad in aggression, only to stop aggression or to preserve peace. Canada does not make war, Canada helps build peace.

I don't know if Canada is the best country in the world, but it may well be the country where all human beings have the best chance to be treated as human beings.

Yet with all of our advantages and blessings, we still face a crisis of confidence in our country. It is tragic to think that a country with so much to offer would even think of breaking itself in two. Why is this? Sadly, our long and bitter debates over national unity and the Constitution have soured our national mood and made us prone to exaggerate our problems and complaints. We all know that Canada is a wonderful country, but it is time for us to say this out loud.

I have said that Canada is a country that works in practice, but not in theory. If enough Canadians get to understand the hopes and fears, dreams and aspirations of each other, and rediscover how well this country works and how much we have in common in practice, there will be such a national consensus that the first ministers will be able to find the formal words necessary to put this in the Constitution in thirty minutes.

We can't just blame our politicians for our national problems. And I am not just saying this because I am now a politician myself! No, we all have to contribute something, starting with saying the truth and coming to understand each other.

One of the reasons I came into politics was to tell the truth about Canada as I see it, even if some people don't want to hear it. The fact is, Quebecers must recognize the value of our Canadian federation, and other Canadians must recognize the value of Quebec's distinctiveness as a fundamental characteristic of their country.

To Quebecers, I have said, and will say again, that despite what they have heard from their media and separatist politicians, it is not true that Canada is an overly centralized federation.

It is not true that Canada cannot change -- look at the changes we have made in the past six months on environmental management, manpower training, or the federal spending power. It is not true that Quebec gets less than its fair share. It is not true that leaving Canada would be painless and simple.

But to other Canadians I must say, it is not only in Quebec that attitudes have to change. We must all recognize the efforts Quebec is making to preserve a vibrant French-speaking society in North America.

Most bilingual or multilingual countries have special legal means to recognize different linguistic needs. In Canada, we already have the Official Languages Act and bilingualism in the Constitution, and the distinct society clause is only meant to reinforce this respect for our linguistic duality.

It is not a way to give Quebec more money, or special powers. It is simply an interpretive clause that will help the courts take into account Quebec's distinctiveness in an Anglophone North America, and it is a way of showing Quebecers that all Canadians support their efforts to keep their language and culture alive and flourishing. One famous Western Canadian, former Chief Justice Brian Dickson, said in Winnipeg last week exactly what I have been saying to Quebecers and all Canadians. To Quebecers: the importance of respecting the rule of law as the basis of a democracy, especially when considering a grave matter like the secession of a province. To other Canadians: that recognizing Quebec in the Constitution would not be used by the courts as a way to create more powers for Quebec, but as an assurance that the courts would continue to take into account Quebec's distinctive role in protecting and promoting its Francophone character.

Let me share with you a story that illustrates this need for a mutual recognition of Quebecers and other Canadians. On a trip to Halifax I met a woman named Joan. Joan told me how on a trip to Florida, she had met a Francophone woman from Quebec -- and that is one of our problems right there, it is ironic that Canadians from other provinces rarely meet except perhaps in Florida or Hawaii. This Quebec woman was named Joanne, a name which is the same as Joan in English.

Joanne said to Joan, "You are not part of my country any more. You are like an American to me." This upset Joan very deeply, and she felt strongly rejected by Joanne. When Joan told me this story, she had tears in her eyes, and asked me why Joanne would feel this way.

I replied to Joan that the sad thing is that Joanne felt that it was Joan who had rejected her. Joanne does not believe any more that English-speaking Canadians, all the Joans in Canada, accept and support the Joannes of Quebec in their effort to live in a French-speaking society.

In 1985, most Quebecers felt confident in their identity within Canada, and support for separatism had fallen below thirty percent. But after ten years of bitter constitutional disputes, Quebecers like Joanne fear that Joan dreams of an English-speaking Canada from coast to coast. Perhaps with a few quaint French-speaking villages here and there, but not a strong, dynamic French society at the heart of Canada.

I know that Canadians from outside Quebec have made many efforts to help send the message that they support our linguistic duality -- the strong support for bilingualism, even in Western Canada, the large number of children in French immersion schools.

I know these efforts are important, and many people feel that it is already enough. But let me repeat an analogy that I have used before. Imagine if Alberta was the only English-speaking province in a continent of 300 million Francophones, and if French was the international language of business and the media. Wouldn't a simple recognition of Alberta's effort to preserve its English heritage be the least you would want from your fellow Canadians?

Today we must find a way for Canadians from outside Quebec to say to Francophone Quebecers, "Yes, we support and admire you in your effort to build a French-speaking society. We recognize and value your distinctiveness."

Joan and Joanne deserve to feel reconciled to each other, not rejected by each other. And their children deserve to be part of the same country facing the 21st century together. Both of them must make a step towards each other, instead of saying it is only the other one's fault.

One thing I am asked everywhere I go is "what can I do to help?" There is tremendous good will in Canada, and a tremendous desire by citizens from all walks of life to help keep this country together. What you can do is to speak to your friends and neighbours about national unity, challenge negative attitudes about Quebec, write to the newspapers and call the open lines. Don't be shy! And tell your political leaders to show courage for the unity of their country.

We have seen our leaders, federally and provincially, challenge the status quo to get our fiscal house in order, so we know they can take risks for what they think is the common good. All politicians want to be known in history as great statesmen. Tell them that for the unity of Canada, history is now.

The Calgary Stampede is a symbol of courage. We all admire and cheer for the cowboy trying to hold on to that bronco for eight heart-stopping seconds. But the political leaders of this country sometimes fear that if they start talking about reconciling Quebec and the rest of Canada, they won't face cheers, but jeers.

You can tell your political leaders that they can and must talk about reconciling Quebec and the rest of Canada, and even putting it in writing in the Constitution. And you can tell them that if they do this, you will stand behind them against the voices of negativism and division.

This is the challenge we all face together as Canadians. And it will require the courage of the Calgary Stampede to accomplish it. The Canadian people have faced adversity in the past, and have made the 20th century belong to Canada. We will not fail to make the 21st century ours as well.

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