Mr. Speaker, I listened closely to what the hon. member for Souris-Moose Mountain had to say, as I did to everything that has been said in this place so far today. I think that, if we were to sum it all up very concisely, there would be at least two main ideas emerging. First, a good many people in this country have lost confidence in their politicians and second, we have a government mired in a situation that can be attributed to government mismanagement.
Every member who has participated in this debate has pointed out several instances of mismanagement, like this business with health insurance cards, although this involved the Ontario provincial government to some extent, and other telling examples of mismanagement on the part of our governments.
What strikes me about this debate is that we seem to be rehashing the same old things we have been hearing for ten years. I am sure there are people in my riding who are thinking just that: "All that stuff, we have been hearing about for ten years".
This morning, the Minister of Finance mentioned relying on meetings he had had with 30 or 40 top economists in Canada. But we have been relying on Canada's 30 or 40 best economists for 10 or 12 years already and, instead of improving, things are getting worse.
I want to put this question to the hon. member for Souris-Moose Mountain regarding Quebec. As you know, it is most likely that we will be holding a referendum in Quebec within a few months. Here is how the people of Quebec view the overall situation at this time. In 1980, when the Liberals took office, the cumulative debt in Canada was about $80 billion. Incidentally, our present Prime Minister was Minister of Finance in that Parliament. At the end of their mandate, they passed on a debt of $200 billion or so. Under the next government, a Conservative government, it rose to $500 billion. We know that upon separating from Canada, we will take on 25 per cent of the Canadian debt. Had we voted "yes" in the 1980 referendum, we would have had to pay $20 billion out of this debt, but if we vote "yes" now, it will cost us $125 billion. This means that over a 13-year period, Quebec's share of the debt has increased by over $100,000 million. As the holder of 25 per cent of the voting shares in this company called Canada which has increased our debt by $100,000 million in 13 years, in what way is this partnership profitable to Quebec?