Madam Speaker, I am glad that the member opposite is giving me a chance to set the record straight. First of all, Quebec has 18 per cent of federal civil servants and we pay 25 per cent, so we save 7 per cent there. We must look the figures in the face.
Looking at the balance between what Quebec pays and what it gets, we see that Quebec pays roughly $28 billion to this federal government here in Ottawa and gets about $28 billion back. That seems fair and equitable, but there is a very big difference. While Ontarians get their money back in federal contracts, research and development and other ways, we Quebecers get our money back partly as unemployment insurance and that is unacceptable.
The cost of duplication and overlap may be $3 billion but that is only a small part of it. The real cost is the opportunity cost; while things are happening under our noses, nothing is being done. Opportunities are slipping away from us and they could amount to tens of billions of dollars. With an ability to act responsibly, debt problems would disappear.
I have been told many times that the Government of Quebec will not be a better manager than the federal government. Totally false! For example, it costs the federal government $170 a year to process an employee's pay while it costs the provincial government $70. Here alone, it costs us about 40 per cent of what it costs the federal government. I am not the one saying that; it is the Auditor General. Yes, we are more efficient and I am really eager to be able to prove it to the whole world.