Mr. Speaker, during the campaign the economic arguments against separation were done well. They convinced a large number of Quebecers that separation was not in their economic interests and would be very costly especially to the vulnerable elements in society the separatists say they want to defend.
What is more important is that federalism is not the status quo. Federalism has been flexible. We indicated in fact, not in words like the opposition, that we were ready to reduce the size of the federal government and we were ready to review the powers of the various levels of government.
We are presently doing that. The federalism test we have applied is presently resulting in all kinds of powers being reassessed between the federal and provincial governments.