Madam Speaker, I think that the hon. member was more interested in making comments than in asking a question.
At the beginning of his speech, the hon. member himself said that this was a housekeeping bill. This piece of legislation sets out the directions given by the minister with regard to the power to take action. I referred to the bill, to the powers the minister gives himself by addressing regional development directly without going through the National Assembly, by allowing himself to negotiate and deal directly with Quebec structures, including municipalities which come under provincial jurisdiction.
The basic question in this case is clearly one of jurisdiction; the bill determines federal jurisdiction over regional development. The hon. member knows full well that according to all analyses of the federal government's regional development initiatives in Quebec, results are quite negative compared to all regional development.
When Quebecers talk about business, they mean small business. The hon. member knows full well that Quebec's strategic plans also include everything that goes with it, all the structures needed to finance small business. He knows very well that Minister Paillé's latest program is a vigorous small-business support program aimed at helping Quebec entrepreneurs start their own businesses and create jobs, since we know that small businesses do create jobs.
Although the hon. member is well aware of that, he tried to insinuate that we were all talk and no action-since it took him a long time to put his questions, allow me, Madam Speaker, to respond to all the matters he raised. In my opinion, he merely showed that Quebec's regional development program is currently ahead of anything that the Department of Industry may suggest in this area.
I want to add that when talking about this-as the hon. member pointed out-we should try to define the real needs instead of raising existential questions. Is the hon. member willing to admit that to do so, we must start by asking those involved to define their real needs? Regional county municipalities, regional development councils and a regional development secretariat were put in place to define the real problems and needs of the regions, instead of commissioning Price Waterhouse to conduct various studies here and there.
Local people are defining their own needs. They developed strategic plans, and I remind the hon. member that the government itself has just produced a series of reports evaluating Quebec's regions when Quebec issued such reports just last year. This duplication of regional analysis is a waste of energy and public funds.
Quebec is capable of developing itself.