Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Edmonton Southwest for his question. Actually when I heard the direction of the question I was thinking that as a child growing up in a very political household I heard the answer to that question a lot.
Let me begin by saying that maritimers are very committed Canadians. Indeed we have been tried. That is why it can be said we are passionately committed to this country, to its future and to its prospering.
There are many things. First, the sort of downhill slide did begin at Confederation because of the emphasis on east-west as opposed to north-south. We always had close ties to New England, to the Caribbean. To a great extent until probably the first war that continued.
There were questions-heaven forbid that I should bring this up-about buying Alberta oil. Nobody would buy Cape Breton coal nor could our apples be shipped to Ontario. There were a number of questions with regard to trade within the country, questions that still remain to be answered. I hope, as all of us in Atlantic Canada hope, they will be answered over the next term by this government.
The other thing was migration. No question. We have been staffing the universities, courts and the public services of the other nine provinces for a long time. While people come back they tend not to come back until their careers are over. That has been a problem as well.
Mainly the major problem has been a lack of an industrial policy that truly fits the Atlantic region. It is my belief that the emphasis on small business as mentioned in the red book and as the hon. Minister of Finance has been talking about in his pre-budgetary consultations are the kinds of policies and programs that will flow from the ideas that will specifically assist Atlantic Canada.
We do not have the population or I suppose to a degree the inclination for megaprojects. Megaprojects were tried. Everyone who lives in Nova Scotia can tell horror stories about Clairtone, heavy water and that sort of thing.
However we do have both the inclination and the ability to succeed in small business. If small business is given its head, as I think it will be by this government, then we will see a new prosperity in Atlantic Canada in which a number of my colleagues are looking forward to taking part. We invite the hon. member and you, Mr. Speaker, to visit us at any time because of course one of the most successful small businesses in Atlantic Canada is tourism.