Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to at least ask one question on the subject before we move to other parts of the bill.
Last Tuesday, Mr. McGirr said that if all the other corporations producing and distributing power were considered, the amount of $250 million referred to by Quebec would surely not be adequate. But this amount is not an estimation coming from the Parti québécois. It is set out in the budget document of the government of Quebec that was recently tabled. In the annex, in section E, it says that the inequity represents an amount of $250 million that is expected from the government of Canada, with whom the province is presently negotiating.
So this amount was not taken out of thin air and was surely established using the same method that was used to determine which part of the profits are business revenues rather than natural resource revenues. So I do not understand why you say that since there are several industries, several corporations that distribute electricity, this amount should be lower. The policy is the same. If you apply it to one province, it should be applied the same way to each electricity-distributing corporation from each province in order to be fair. This is why the government of Quebec expects to receive an amount of $250 million.
Do you want to reduce the amount provided to other provinces under the available budget? It would not be fair. The same policy should be applied to all provinces, to Hydro-Québec and to all other electricity-distributing businesses. Do you agree?