From the House of Commons - October 31, 1995:

Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, while celebrating the fact that we Canadians remain together in a single country, we must ask ourselves some very important questions. What is a country, really? How did we weaken our political attachment to our country in the past 15 years? How can we renew the values we uphold and our vision of Canadian society?

In this respect, on behalf of the NDP we do not see uncritical decentralization and the offloading of federal responsibilities as a panacea, particularly if it is just a cover for the further dismantling of the very Canada that both Quebecers and non- Quebecers lament the continuing destruction of.

A house divided against itself cannot stand, but even an apparently united house - without a foundation of social and economic justice, is a house built on sand.