Mr. Speaker, the leaders of the federalist side would have Quebecers believe that English Canada could manage without a partnership agreement with a sovereign Quebec.
The economic reality is that Quebec is the second-ranking partner of English Canada, far ahead of Japan and Germany.
The economic reality is that Quebecers purchase $420 million worth of fish and other food products from the Atlantic provinces every year. That there are $850 million worth of oil and natural gas
sold to Quebec by Alberta. There is Bay Street, the financial heart of Toronto, which would lose $2.8 billion in insurance and financial services business. And there are the $1.3 billion worth of car and truck purchases from the Ontario automobile industry by Quebec.
Yet they are trying to make us believe that a partnership is not in the interests of Quebec and the rest of Canada. Really, now.