Thank you, Madam Chair.
Respected colleagues, I want to say that this is the same situation we had a month ago; it is a cut and paste. Honestly, it disheartens me.
We have really heard all the criteria—for example, the size of the territory and the services provided. You can have lots of people everywhere, but you need a budget. We also heard about the ability to have Internet access. For that, Internet services must be available on the territory. Then we heard about fairness in representation. On top of that, we learned that some citizens, who did not have Internet access at home, had to drive two hours to attend consultations in person. We also experienced this situation in Laurentides—Labelle, even though the riding is smaller than Abitibi—Témiscamingue.
From the beginning, we have been hearing about criteria, thresholds and all that. Obviously, the criteria exist. The problem is not the lack of criteria or representativeness. It's more about what gets prioritized.
Personally, I am already thinking about the next redistribution process. I would hope that we will be listened to, that our report will be read, and that the objections that are valid and warranted will be heard. Each time, the commissions ask members of Parliament to complete the consultations and give them more information because they need to be heard.
If I have any hope, it is because of what I saw in the consultations about my own riding. I, too, completely disapproved of the idea of eastern Quebec having one less riding and people having to travel thousands of kilometres. Instead of having three regions, six regional county municipalities and fragmented municipalities, I made another proposal, and they listened to me, or listened to the community, I should say.
I would hope that, even though this is meant to be a final report, the objections made will be heard, pending the next redistribution process, which is 10 years away. That's really one of my concerns. That's why I'm discouraged. Maybe it's also because it's Thursday and we've had a good week.
I have one or two minutes left. I'd like you to use that time to tell us about the criteria. You are the ones who are living with the situation in terms of services to citizens. What criteria should be prioritized?