Mr. Speaker, what an extraordinary leap of logic.
The federal government is about to sign with GM, in Ontario, a major contract worth as much as $2 billion for the acquisition of armoured vehicles. Despite the intergovernmental affairs minister's attempt to reassure Oerlikon in Quebec, a GM spokesperson clearly indicated that Oerlikon was not a contender for the armoured turrets subcontract, in spite of the fact that Oerlikon is the Canadian center of excellence for this kind of work.
Given that, in the past 15 years, Quebec has been shortchanged by at least $10 billion in the distribution of federal military expenditures, why would the Prime Minister not give Quebecers the assurance that they will get their fair share of the economic and technological benefits associated with the generous contract which was awarded to General Motors instead of Oerlikon?