Madam Speaker, I would like to go back to a few points mentioned by the hon. member for Bonaventure-Îles-de-la-Madeleine when he vaunted the Liberals' regional development programs. First, with regard to education programs in Quebec, he said he was concerned about the drop-out rate in Quebec. But he never said we were losing between $250 and $300 million a year in occupational training, money which should be spent in Quebec to help solve the problems caused by dropping out. Education budgets have been cut for nearly ten years in Quebec and, again, it is a Liberal government which, for the last eight years, has reduced grants to school boards and continually asked them to do more.
Neither does the member mention duplication in regional development, where federal programs overlap with provincial programs, and sometimes all this is done without considering evaluation programs. They do not want to know what the results will be. All they want is to throw some money in order to convince Quebecers that the federal government is the best. They are not interested to know if the programs will help create jobs, all they want is to spend money to impress people.
Where was the member for Bonaventure-Îles-de-la-Madeleine last week when we spoke of putting the regional infrastructure in place for building a high-speed rail line? Not a single Liberal member from Quebec rose in this House to support this bill, which could create 120,000 jobs. This is a real regional development project, it is not an infrastructure project creating only short-term jobs. But the member for Bonaventure-Îles-de-la-Madeleine was not here to support it.
When one speaks of measures, one must be sincere and follow one's principles and thinking through to their conclusion!