Thank you, I appreciate that.
In the two minutes I have remaining, I would like you to address an issue on which I hold a certain position, and which is well-known to your colleagues. It concerns the way federal jobs are divided between the Ontario and the Quebec sides of the river in the National Capital Region.
In the 1970s—and during the 1980s, which was confirmed yet again—Liberal governments said that it was important for federal jobs to be located on both sides of the river: 75% on the Ontario side and 25% on the Quebec side. The policy applied to jobs and employees of the federal public services.
Since then, there have been changes at the administrative level. In fact, not every job, department or agency is accountable to Treasury Board as an employer. Indeed, there are different ways of conducting administration. For instance, organizations which are not accountable to Treasury Board include museums, the Société Radio-Canada, the RCMP, the Department of National Defence, and others. So if you take all federal jobs into account, you realize that we are very far from the ratio of 25% to 75%.
We did some research and tabled a written question in the House of Commons. The government gave us a response. By comparing the numbers, we realized that 81.04% of jobs are on the Ontario side, whereas 18.96% of jobs are on the Quebec side.
Mr. Guimont, would you object to the 75:25 ratio as applied to all of the public service?
I know that not all public sector jobs are with the departments, agencies or corporations which are accountable to you and fall within your mandate. Museums for instance do not fall under your mandate. You also do not have an agreement with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Nevertheless, would you object to 25% of all public sector jobs being located on the Quebec side of the greater National Capital Region?