Mr. Speaker, I will try to be brief even though there are many things I would have liked to say. First of all, with all due respect, I would like to tell the House that it is not the member for Bonaventure-Îles-de-la-Madeleine or the member from Prince Edward Island who alerted the medias. It is the veterinarian in the Magdalen Islands who made the public and the government aware of the situation.
The second thing I would like to say is why did the government not conduct a public hearing on this matter? The member took it upon himself to act in this regard and then the minister made the announcement that there were two or three projects to raise the Irving Whale .
But what the public wants is for the hold of this ship to be emptied in order to prevent a disaster. The federal government's mandate with regard to regional development is to ensure that our water is clean so that tourists will continue to come and enjoy the beaches in the Magdalen Islands. That is what regional development is all about.