Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member for the Reform Party sees a contradiction between statements by members of the Bloc and what we receive from the federal government, I want to make it clear that every year, Quebecers pay $28 billion in taxes to Ottawa. I hope that when the federal government invests in Quebec, no one here thinks the government is doing us a favour. It is our money, because we pay $28 billion in taxes.
As long as we are part of this system, and until such time as Quebecers say they really want to form a country, and in any event, Reform Party members who keep presenting petitions against official languages in Canada won't have a problem any more with what happens in Quebec. Quebec will be a French nation. You won't have to present any more petitions to complain about federal investment in Quebec, because Quebec will manage its own taxes, both federal taxes and provincial taxes.
So there is no contradiction involved in claiming our due while we are part of this system. The federal government is not doing us a favour.
Regarding investments in a high-speed train service, a task force including representatives from the Government of Ontario and the Government of Quebec and chaired by the hon. Rémi Bujold, former M.P. for Bonaventure-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, has shown that a Quebec-Windsor high-speed train could be 70 per cent financed by the private sector, while the government could inject 30 per cent, which would represent investments totalling about $2.3 billion. The revenue generated by 120,000 person-years of work during construction and 40,000 person-years when a high-speed train is in operation would total $1.8 billion, which means that the difference between $2.3 billion and what the federal government would contribute with $1.8 billion in tax revenues would be $500 million.
We voted in favour of a project worth several billion dollars to build a fixed link between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, because we felt it was a good project. We are convinced that if this proposal is debated in this House, a project that would create jobs, export technology, and nevertheless have a limited impact on the public purse, with 70 per cent participation by the private sector, it would be a very attractive proposition for Canada and Quebec.