Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to the comments of the member for Mercier, as I always do. I am always very interested in her deep understanding of social issues.
As I listened to her speech, it ran across my mind what she was talking about were communicable diseases. I wondered whether she thought diseases like AIDS or other diseases knew national boundaries. Are specific diseases that could possibly occur in Quebec unique to the borders or indigenous to the borders of Quebec, or are they diseases that can occur throughout the country and indeed throughout the world?
When we are talking about research in diseases and communicable diseases it seems to me that as a country we need to consolidate our work in these areas to try to find solutions rather than be fragmented and have separate research areas throughout the country.
Next is the whole aspect of governments being closer to the people. We have talked a lot in the House about the issue. I have often wondered if it is psychological talk. We look at a map and we see Ottawa and we see Quebec City. However, what does it mean to someone in Chicoutimi, Arvida or other places in Quebec to get government services closer to the people?
I know in my province, for instance in the area of education, we say that it should be close to the people. The reality is our education system is run out of Toronto. It is not any closer to the people than if it were in Ottawa. I suspect this is true in Quebec as well. The actual government getting into the lives of people on the streets of those communities is not any more well developed from Quebec City than it is from Ottawa.
An issue that really concerns me about Quebec and its economy is the over-preponderance of provincial debt in that province. Also there is the preponderance of the province of Quebec to borrow, incidentally outside its borders. Some 54 per cent of Quebec's debt is funded outside Canada with foreigners. The referendum actually required the Government of Quebec to borrow $35 million from foreigners to ask its people if they wanted to be an independent country. It seems a little absurd, quite frankly.
Could the member address some of these issues but mainly the whole issue about how we are to get government closer to the people? The federal government, for instance, pays old pension cheques and the Canada pension plan. It deals directly with people. The Canadian employment services are right in our communities. They are the federal government but they are not in Ottawa. They are right in our communities and are dealing with community problems. I ask her whether some of this stuff is psychological.