Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to the presentation made by the hon. member opposite and I think that he made very important points on some issues, particularly the importance of the environmental impact of emissions, a common problem related to heavy trucking in Quebec and all of Canada of course. He also touched on sustainable development. His transportation costs analysis was very interesting and I wish to take this opportunity to commend his work on this.
This leads me to the following question. The hon. member claims to be extremely sensitive to all these issues and talks about a corporate national transportation policy. The problem I have with this is that a national policy would, of course, be applied across Canada. So, I wonder how he would make such a plan work if Quebec were to become independent and separate from the rest of Canada. Also, in the present context, what role
would he see Quebec and the other provinces play with regard to road taxes? Could they possibly be reduced?
He must have more frequent dealings with his Quebec counterparts than I do. What is Quebec's position on this issue? How can road taxes be reduced? How could Quebec be made a part of the Canadian family in relation to a national transportation policy? I would like to hear what the hon. member has to say on this issue.