Madam Speaker, Beauport—Limoilou is a beautiful riding if ever there was one.
I would like to thank my colleagues for their questions. I ask myself the same questions. We can come up with answers, but it is up to the government to respond to these questions that are so unsettling for all Quebeckers.
It seems as though this is a country in which we unfortunately do not belong. One day we will have our own country, we hope. We are all working toward that goal.
In this country of Canada, everything happens in Toronto. In some cities, they used to talk about everything happening somewhere else, but now everything happens in Toronto. It is like the French who, in their centralist country, felt like everything was in Paris. Here we feel like everything is in Toronto.
Maybe we can come up with an answer for my colleague from Lévis—Bellechasse. During the last election campaign, the Liberals said they would not reform employment insurance immediately. The poor member—I can use his name since he is no longer in the House of Commons, unfortunately for him—the former member for Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Pabok, George Farrah said, “You know, we cannot all win.” In Toronto, they are not sure why so much money would go to the unemployed since there is not much unemployment in Toronto.
There is a misunderstanding about what makes Quebec strong and what is less urgent. I do not believe that it is necessarily a conscious anti-Quebec reaction; it is the ignorance of the famous two solitudes. At the end of the day, despite the opening speeches and the theoretical respect for provincial jurisdictions, there is still encroachment. Industry never gets the support it needs and things have to start over from scratch.
I was listening to the Minister of Finance during oral question period. He did not know that Desjardins—Quebec's largest financial institution—had not even been retained as a broker in the Petro-Canada matter. The Minister of Finance was not aware of that. Yet, this was front page news. The government does not respect one of Canada's largest financial institutions and the single largest one in Quebec. It does not think that Valeurs mobilières Desjardins deserves to be recognized as a broker.
It is this whole culture, this mix of ignorance and lack of understanding, that has carried a political weight for this government, which now finds itself in a minority situation. The Liberals will carry this weight for a long time. If they maintain this lack of understanding and this centralizing federalism, it is my hope that, some day, we will build a country for ourselves, we will have our own country. If they cannot help our aerospace industry, we will, provided we are given the means to do so.
In the meantime, we are paying taxes. We should get something in return. This is good for Quebec, for workers in Montreal and for the whole Quebec society. We hope that, some day, this government will understand this reality.