Thank you, Mr. Lukiwski.
The people of Beauce have argued that this region should remain intact and that it should not be touched.
In the paragraph entitled "History and Belonging" on page 10 of the 2012 Report of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for the province of Quebec, the commission itself writes: "For example, we witnessed some heartfelt expressions by citizens convinced of the inviolable nature of their identity." The commission states that it also heard the cry: "'Beaucerons we were born, Beaucerons we shall die!' Expressed elsewhere with greater restraint—"
There appears to be a very significant sense of belonging, as a result of which the commission partly considered our request that we be given back the eight municipalities that it took away from us in its first report.
The commission retained those eight municipalities in its second report. However, there was never any question that the two municipalities in southern Beauce would disappear from the electoral district of Beauce. Consequently, my argument today is the same as the one I advanced before the commission. I asked it to keep the electoral district of Beauce intact and to add those two municipalities.
The commission of course based its work on the RCMs. It thought that the two municipalities in southern Beauce, Saint-Robert and Saint-Ludger, would be transferred to Mr. Paradis's riding, since they are part of the RCM of Le Granit, and that Saint-Lambert would remain in Beauce since it is part of the RCM of La Nouvelle-Beauce.
We believe the people of Saint-Lambert want to go back to where they were. The people of Saint-Ludger have made regular efforts to join the RCM of Beauce-Sartigan, but that has not worked because the matter was the responsibility of the Quebec government. However, we would like the commission to take note of that fact and to consider Beaucerons' wish to keep Beauce intact.