Mr. Speaker, a famous person once said: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I am quite surprised to hear my colleague from Pontiac set the tone as he did. When he speaks of a beautiful Quebec, I agree with him. As far as a strong Canada is concerned, I recognize that Canada must be strong. I have no problem with that. But I do not agree with the way he explains things for us to recognize that Quebec can be happy within a strong Canada.
Since he says he is from Quebec and speaks for Quebec, I would like to hear him explain to Quebec taxpayers and particularly to citizens of his riding that we pay $2.4 billion a year too much for health care and that we never benefit from that money. How does he explain that? I did not calculate that myself. Those figures are well-known. How does he explain that $230 million a year in income tax returns Quebeckers would be entitled to is never paid to citizens but kept by the federal government, which saves money at the expense of Quebec because we have a good day care system.
How does he explain to his voters that more than $30 million a year is not paid to the unemployed in his riding alone? Can he not explain this since he is so happy about it? I will stop here, but I could give him another series of questions like these. If he does not have enough, I will bring him more later.
Canada wants to act for Quebec. The government wants our own good. But right now, it is acting more as if it wanted to own us for good. And we will not accept that.