Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I very much appreciate and respect Mr. Hardy's comment, but he is mistaken in thinking that I strayed from the substance of this motion. Had he been listening carefully, he would know that what I was saying was relevant to the last sentence of the motion, as I pointed out a number of times.
I'm going to read out the motion, so that it's clear why my comments are relevant and why I talked about Highway 50. The motion reads as follows:
That the committee undertake a study into the connection between the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and Alto, and the Minister's claims that he has recused himself from decisions his government made related to Alto; that, for the purpose of this study, the committee invite the following witnesses to appear by May 8, 2026: 1. Konrad von Finckenstein, Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, for two hours; 2. Executives from Alto, including CEO Martin Imbleau, for two hours; and 3. the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, for two hours;
Now here's the operative sentence:
And that the committee report to the House that it is undertaking this study.
That's the problem, in my view. Alto is a crucial project, one that is important to my constituents and my region, and as a Canadian member of Parliament, I would say my country and its economic development. Frankly, it's even a matter of life and death for the constituents in my region, because Highway 50 is what links people in the Outaouais to Montreal, the province's largest city, without leaving Quebec. People regularly have to take other routes, and I'm sure my fellow member from Quebec is quite familiar with the situation. He is well aware that it is one of the most dangerous highways in all of Quebec.
Nearly 20 years ago, or maybe in the early 2000s, the road connecting the Lac-Saint-Jean and Quebec City regions was finally turned into a dual carriageway. Why? Because it was a dangerous road, with moose and all kinds of things. It runs right through a provincial park and is very unsafe in the winter. It's an important region to Quebec.
The same logic applies: our region is important too. If we take population into account, it is more important. The city of Gatineau is Quebec's fourth-largest city, and our only link on Quebec soil is Highway 50.
Highway 50 isn't a real highway, though. Most of the way, there's only one lane in each direction, and that results in all kinds of accidents. Sometimes the accidents are caused by human error, with people speeding or driving aggressively, but other times they're caused by moose or deer. That is a fact. We don't have any other connecting road, which is why the Alto project is so important.