Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, I am very happy today that my colleagues from the Opposition have picked this day to discuss an issue that is very dear to me, that is, of course, regional development and regional development policies.
I want to tell you from the start that this issue is dear to me because, now that I am the member for Outremont, I am extremely proud to represent that riding which I cherish. I must say that to sit as the member for Outremont, with all the history of that riding, gives me, as they say in Quebec, a thrill and I feel very proud.
However, I must emphasize that I am also from an area of Quebec, more precisely La Malbaie, in the riding of Charlevoix, which is far from the major centres. I must underline to the Speaker that, being from that area, I became familiar with all the problems of regional development and all that they entail. Indeed, I want to tell you that one of the reasons why I joined the Liberal Party was in fact because of its great openness towards regional development policies.
You know, Mr. Speaker, Canada as such, and it is being said regularly, because these days I have had the chance to travel throughout Quebec, I must be travelling all over Quebec at least once a month, these days, Canada as a whole is a huge cultural patchwork, and we regularly say it loud and clear, but it is also, if I may say so, a geographical patchwork.
There often are regional disparities within the same region. It is fortunate that Canada is a cultural and geographical mosaic. It is for this reason that Canada is what it is. It is for this reason that Canada is such an attractive counry. It is for this reason that Canada shines everywhere in the world. It is for this reason that so many people visit Canada.
I joined the Liberal Party because, since my early chilhood, the Liberal Party has always symbolised this openness to what we really are, essentially a great country which has to be united and a great country whose regions must be respected.
Today, when you look at what is going on in the world, it is clear that we are faced with globalization which of course involves the whole issue of cultural and economic co-operation.
The Liberal government understood the key to the future for us in Canada. The key to the future lies in the great principles of co-operation. Since October 25, we have taken a very open approach to consultation and co-operation. As far as I am concerned, this is the key to the future and this is the approach taken by the government.
When speaking of consultation and co-operation with partners, we mean of course private enterprise. We also mean the various levels of government. The Liberal government of Mr. Chrétien understood that we had to be united in order to build something. It put forward several principles, already contained in the Martin budget, to improve and enhance co-operation between federal, provincial and municipal governments.
As you know, and I mentioned that earlier, the Infrastructure Program is an eloquent example of that new policy and that new philosophy. The program is also an outstanding success.
As you know, the idea of co-operation is not new to the federal government and the Liberal Party in particular. As early as 1974, governments began to implement what was called general agreements on regional co-operation and development. The same year, two of those agreements were successively implemented in co-operation with the provinces and in particular the one I represent, the province of Quebec. All those initiatives were created to allow for an appropriate exchange of information to save money but also, as was well acknowledged and publicly known, to better serve the Canadians, because we must not forget that the primary goal of any government is to provide services. This is why our philosophy is based on consultation, which makes it possible to better understand the needs of each area.
Therefore, we are trying to create harmony between the various levels of government and I must say that we are also trying to create harmony within our own system, the federal system, and within our institutions. I would like to say that right now Mr. Chrétien's government is making considerable efforts-and efforts were made previously-to eliminate any form of overlapping, first of all at the federal level. I must say also that since 1974, a fantastic co-operation has emerged between the provinces and the federal government which has led to various side agreements in various areas that I will name.
For instance, there have been agreements between Quebec and federal departments, and I am not referring to general agreements including both governments in the broader sense, but rather agreements at the departmental level, that is between provincial and federal departments.
The areas that have been affected, Mr. Speaker, are the following ones. For example, we can talk about an industrial agreement and side agreements on tourism, culture, forests, minerals, agri-food, communications and fisheries, transportation, science and technology.
I am proud to say that today, because it is the way to go. Recently, the government showed once again that it is the way to go. It showed that dialogue and believing in a country and in a system can give rise to very interesting results for all regions in Canada.
Recently, for instance, on April 18, an agreement called St. Lawrence Vision 2000 Agreement was announced. That agreement involves several departments at the federal level and implies some co-operation with various levels of government.
The proposed agreement will cost $191 million and will be based on protecting and cleaning up the St. Lawrence River, which is an essential waterway for the economic development of the eastern part of the country and also for the economic development of Quebec.
Within the context of the St. Lawrence Vision 2000 Agreement, I would like to give you a list of the departments involved at the federal and provincial levels. And then people will argue that the system in which we live cannot work properly.
Of course when you come to the House of Commons with the defeatist attitude that the present system does not work, you cannot build anything on that premise. I wonder how you could build an independent Quebec with people whose outlook is so pessimistic.
To get back to federal-provincial co-operation, the St. Lawrence Vision 2000 Agreement involved the following departments and agencies: at the federal level, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Health and Welfare Canada, Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian Heritage, the Federal Office of Regional Development; and, at the provincial level, in Quebec, Environment and Wildlife, Health, Social Services, Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Municipal Affairs.
As you know, since the Chrétien government came to power, one of its policies has been to help small business. With the advent of globalization, small businesses must adjust to the new international focus on markets. If you look around, not just in the province of Quebec but all over Canada, and if you go and talk to owners of small businesses in their communities, as I did in recent months, you will see that they realize their future will depend on consultation and co-operation with various sectors in the community and with various levels of government. As many business owners will tell you, they really have no choice.
They have no choice because today, the changes taking place in the economy, technology and business, in the broadest sense of the word, are occurring at an incredible rate. Today, networking is not a luxury but a necessity in order to exchange information and become more competitive and more efficient.
Small businesses in Canada have the right attitude, an attitude that is in line with what the present government would like to see, since it reflects the international context of our markets. In the eighties, Canada signed a free trade agreement with the United States. Not long ago, this government signed a North American Free Trade Agreement.
We also know that as a result of GATT, the economy is becoming increasingly globalized, because the terms of this agreement provide for eliminating all forms of tariff barriers. Incidentally, I read some books by a number of politicians in Quebec not long ago, and according to them-this is not a direct quote because I do not have the text in front of me-because of globalization, the way of future might be a world federation, an international federation that would eventually unite all countries.
We in the federal government have understood the need to look ahead and consider the broader perspective. One of the federal government's current instruments to help the regions, and one of which I am particularly proud and which is headed by the Minister of Finance, the Hon. Paul Martin, is the Federal Office of Regional Development for Quebec, an instrument that we as a government use to implement what we call regional development policies.
There is a connection with small business, because as you know, not long ago, the Minister of Finance made a speech, and a very good one, on the new philosophy of the Federal Office of Regional Development for Quebec, and he clearly indicated that we would put the emphasis on small business. And why should we stress small business in our regional development policies? For the simple reason that since the end of the seventies,
companies with fewer than 100 employees are those that benefited from government assistance and that generated 2.3 million jobs in Canada, that is 87 per cent of the total number of jobs created in this country. It does not take a genius to realize that adequate knowledge of the community and support for small business are the two pillars of regional development.
I am proud of this initiative to support small business, because small businesses always have closer ties with the community, and history has shown they are also better able to weather a recession. And a small business is usually more loyal to its employees. These are businesses which, as they diversify, will provide Quebec and Canada with a reliable economic infrastructure that will make it possible for us to think globally.
Not long ago, we went ahead, as we said we would during the election campaign and as Mr. Martin explained on numerous occasions, we went ahead with pre-budget consultations, a very open process aimed at implementing the government's new philosophy on co-operation and consultation. Its purpose was to ask the public what it expected of the government generally in terms of budgetary policy.
One fact to clearly emerge from this consultation process is that people really do want us to provide assistance to the regions. However, the government did receive one very clear message, namely that the public no longer wants it to intervene on a massive scale and to pour large sums of money, often unwisely, into useless programs which fall by the wayside after a certain period of time.
Proud of this consultative process, the minister has given a new mandate to the FORDQ for which he is responsible and has retargeted this office's objectives. The end result is that the regional development policy advocated by the FORDQ is tailored to the people's demands. Clearly it is much more focused and as such, it will be much more effective.
Among other things, the FORDQ will focus on innovative actions such as technology transfers, design, formative regional projects, in particular, I might add, in the field of tourism. Efforts will be made to provide assistance to businesses to help them compete internationally and to get plugged in to the information highway.
Therefore, provided consultation takes place and the government is positive and open, we can succeed. Canada is currently making preparations to confront the markets of the 21st century. I find it odd to see members of the Bloc draw comparisons which are often weak between Canada and the European Economic Community.
For example, Mr. Bouchard mentioned that a sovereign Quebec would use the US dollar just as the Europeans do. That is a very lame comparison indeed. For starters, the European Economic Community is an economic union which seeks to develop political ties. We are one step ahead of the game since we already have these political ties. However, the European economic union will use a common currency, the ECU, not the currency of one of the 12 member countries, unlike what Mr. Bouchard was suggesting when he said Quebec would use the US dollar, the currency of one of the countries in North America, as if Quebecers were a colonized people.
I will not deny that the current system is not perfect, but with some consultation and some fine-tuning, we can effectively build a competitive Canada and Quebec for the future. However, if we embrace the view of the members of the official opposition, we will be looking ahead to constitutional debates which, even after a future vote on Quebec's separation, could drag on for five or ten years. This is valuable time. Important technological changes are taking place and we must not miss the boat.