Mr. Speaker, I listened with a great deal of interest to the comments of my hon. colleague opposite, particularly when he said that the intention was not, apparently, to eliminate the $100,000 capital gains exemption, but rather to stop the flow of capital out of the country. If there were some way to do away with this irritant without denying the middle class and the less wealthy the opportunity to benefit from the exemption, then we would welcome this timely initiative and we would certainly support it.
As far as decentralization and duplication are concerned, the Bloc Quebecois maintained throughout the election campaign that the federal government should withdraw from certain areas and leave responsibility for program administration up to the provinces. We have spoken at length about occupational training. This is a good example of an area from which the federal government should withdraw. Responsibility for manpower training should be left to the provinces because it is a matter of education and under the Constitution, education falls under provincial jurisdiction. If the present situation persists, there will continue to be unproductive duplication in this area.
We could give other examples, health and research and development, for instance. It is unfortunate that we have not succeeded in eliminating duplication, the reason being that the federal government wants to maintain a high-profile in provincial areas of jurisdiction. And yet, every Quebec premier over the past 30 years, whether blue, red, separatist or sovereigntist, has called for responsibility for these areas to be handed over to the province. I think there is a major consensus within the province of Quebec, especially on this issue. And I hope the federal government ultimately recognizes this fact.