In Canada, women's rights are a vital part of our effort to build a society of real equality - not just for some, but for all Canadians. A society in which women no longer encounter discrimination nor are shut out from opportunities open to others

Have you ever, on a cloudless night, looked down from a passing aircraft flying over Canada? Endless, glowing strings of cities, towns, and homesteads. Stretching on and on, one province to the next. With only the stars in the distance.

If we do not step forward, then we step back. If we do not protect a right, then we deny it.

This is the province that pioneered dreaming big.

Put simply, we must always remember that separate but equal is not equal.

Since one never knows what will be the line of advance, it is always most rash to condemn what is not quite in the fashion of the moment.

At a moment that comes rarely in the life of a country. It is a time when destiny is ours to hold.