Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank Mr. Girard for his response.
That is exactly what I am asking: that the transition office cease its operations. The Autorité des marchés financiers and all of its counterparts in every region of Canada are fully capable of doing studies on systemic risk.
Rather than following a more effective model, we are giving a gift to Bay Street, which wants to centralize its power over securities rather than ensure that securities are representative of all provinces and regions.
I remind you that this is extremely important. We have consensus in Quebec, and 100,000 jobs are at stake. In addition, in the Quebec model, corporate head offices are generally in the Greater Montreal area or they report to Montreal. Going ahead with this project would mean shutting down the Quebec economy. The Quebec model is at issue here.
Mr. Girard clearly said that the funding for this project has doubled. Is Canada a federation where the provinces still have powers or is everything being centralized? We no longer have a federation in a centralized country where everything is decided in Ottawa.
I remind you that we have a strong consensus among all parties in Quebec's National Assembly, and that even includes the Quebec Liberal Party. The whole of Quebec Inc., including Desjardins and all the companies headquartered in Quebec, is asking that this not happen. It's a major issue and it involves our economic model. Quebec's great companies are not U.S. subsidiaries. They have head offices that make decisions. Voting against my amendment and voting for this is a vote against Quebec.
When Mr. Fraser says he supports the Canadiens, my hat is off to him, but I ask him to go one step further and vote for Quebec by supporting my amendment.
Thank you, everyone.