City of Quebec, Quebec, Friday, October 17, 2014
Check Against Delivery
Thank you for welcoming me so warmly. I am delighted to be here for this timely and important gathering.
The 150th anniversary of the Québec Conference is an occasion not only for celebration, but also for study and discussion of Canada’s unique Confederation.
That is why I am pleased to see so many participants here at the Musée de la civilisation.
Your premise—that in order to understand contemporary Quebec and Canada, you must understand our constitution and the context in which it became law—makes for an excellent point of departure.
It is remarkable how much we can learn about Canada today by studying the events that took place in 1864 here in the City of Québec and in Charlottetown.
Consider, for example, Étienne-Paschal Taché, the too-often-forgotten Father of Confederation, who was chairman of the Québec Conference.
Last month, I had the privilege of participating in the dedication of a new statue of Taché not far from here, in Parc de Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde.
I was pleased to see Taché honoured in bronze because his dedication to the public good and to compromise was important to the success of the Québec Conference and, ultimately, to the birth of Canada. He was an individual of great strength and resolve.
To quote historian Andrée Désilets:
“A fair evaluation of Taché’s whole career requires the setting aside of usual standards of assessment and a realization that the strength that makes compromise possible may be as great as the strength behind creativity or resistance.”
I think we can all agree that—perhaps more than any other quality—the willingness of diverse peoples to work together and achieve compromise has defined Canada at its best for the past century and a half.
Simply put, without a willingness to collaborate, to compromise and to tolerate diversity, Canada cannot exist. That was true 150 years ago, and it remains true today.
When the delegates to the Québec Conference gathered here in October 1864, they laid the basis for a country that was so much more than the sum of its parts.
They had their differences and rivalries, certainly, but they worked together, in a spirit of collaboration. They were ambitious and pragmatic, and they understood that the provinces would be stronger if they united in common cause.
Of course, Confederation was not achieved solely here in Québec City. It took almost three years of negotiations and hard work for Confederation and Canada’s unique constitutional monarchy to become a reality.
There was a great deal of debate and deliberation in the colonial parliaments of the day and, more importantly, in the homes and gathering places of ordinary people.
The outcomes of the Québec Conference continue to reverberate to this day. It goes without saying that the Constitution Act of 1867 has had an enormous influence on the development of Quebec and Canada. It is a living document.
That is why it is so important for Canadians to understand the history of the Conference and the nature of our constitution. Such understanding helps us to make enlightened decisions about Quebec and about Canada.
As governor general of Canada, I would like to commend you on your dedication to learning and to sharing what you have learned. You are making an important contribution to a smarter, more caring Canada.
I hope you have a wonderful conference.