November 20, 1978 (30th Parliament, 4th Session)

Mr. Johnston (Westmount):

I was delighted to hear the hon. Leader of the Opposition pay homage to Mr. Drury. Even in his retirement from the House, he has gone on to accept several difficult mandates, and still serves the Canadian people.
In its wisdom, the riding of Westmount selected a Liberal by an overwhelming majority in the recent by-elections. Yet, I feel that in the minds of many Canadians, the Westmount riding conjures up the image of one of the two solitudes about which Hugh MacLennan wrote so many years ago: the solitude of the affluent English in the province of Quebec. The riding of Westmount is not such a bastion or fortress of the English-speaking population of the province of Quebec. In fact, Westmount today is symbolic of the Canada of the future, the pluralistic society which brings together so many of the wonderful differences present in Canada, such as racial, religious, economic and social. All those differences are present in that great riding. The riding comprises one of the most important influential Jewish communities in Canada, as well as one of the most important business communities and universities, combining all that in a riding which is predominantly English and very substantially bilingual.
From time to time the premier of Quebec, Mr. Rene Levesque, has made reference to the metaphor used by Sir Winston Churchill of two scorpions in a bottle being representative of the relationship between the French and the English. I can assure Your Honour and all members of the

House, that if that metaphor is applicable anywhere is Canada-and I personally do not think it is-certainly it is not applicable in my riding or in the city of Montreal.