And why does he describe Ferelden as great?
In our current timeframe Ferelden is a backwater looked down on by everybody else... Hmmm... Perhaps it is destined for greatness?
Ferelden was the birthplace of Andraste and her armies, who invaded Tevinter and came close to destroying it, and succeeded in overriding the Old God religion.
Ferelden fought off a darkspawn invasion when it was warring tribes pulled together only by Hafter.
The massive Empire of Orlais, at its height of glory spent decades in its first invasion of Ferelden, barely making it past Lake Calenhad, before giving up in frustration.
The second invasion succeeded, but for a hundred years the Fereldans resisted, stubborn and clever in avoiding the army, before eventually they knocked the Usurpers out.
Ferelden, on its own, took down the Fifth Blight exponentially faster than the rest of Thedas has managed to take down all the Blights before it.
Ferelden loves dogs and has a folk hero who hangs out with wolves and thinks they're great.
Ferelden sounds like the country (along with Rivain for its tolerance in general and respect of spirits in particular) Solas would hold the most respect for.
Unless he was being sarcastic. 