Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to both of you for coming so far to be here today. The weather may be better back home.
Mr. Reid, in your presentation, you talked about the role of the federal government. You said the project was “truly a nation-building project, determined to be in the public interest”. There is an implicit recognition in that statement that when something benefits the nation, no matter where in Canada—and gas development is very profitable—it inevitably benefits everyone.
If I was a Canadian in Toronto, I would say I agree completely, that is absolutely true, but I am not. I come from Quebec, and there are two nations in Canada. Even Mr. Harper recognized not just a nation, but the nations.
As a nation, we see things very differently. Why? I will give you an example. You mentioned funding that had been given to other major projects in the past, including the St. Lawrence Seaway, which was built mostly in Ontario with Quebec supplying 30% of the funding, the Hibernia development, which was built in Newfoundland Labrador with Quebec supplying 25% of the funding, and the TransCanada Pipeline, which is probably out west. But you did not mention the CANDU reactors at Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, which are also located mostly in Ontario.
In Quebec, we have an energy supplier called Hydro-Québec, but we did not get a penny from the Canadian government. As a nation, we feel as though we are paying 25% to 30% of everyone's else bill, while we receive payments under the equalization program. So we do not really think it benefits everyone.