Mr. Speaker, I regret to inform the hon. member that the unemployment rate has dropped since the separatist government came to office. I also want to tell my hon. colleague that the history of poverty in Quebec is one of the main factors that, in the 1960s, made not-so-young people like myself worry about the fate of Quebec in Canada.
I know that it would take much more time than I have to respond to this, but if my hon. colleague is interested, I would be delighted to show him that, as you saw during the referendum campaign, there is in Quebec an important consensus among the disadvantaged, the workers, the social forces that are progressive but largely in favour of sovereignty, because many people-it went up to 49.4 per cent, as you saw-feel that the only way they can improve their lot is by taking control of their own destiny.
We know that the economic situation in Quebec has major advantages but also disadvantages that we want to deal with. We want to emphasize our assets. We want to work on eliminating our problems and we feel frustrated by government policies that do not meet our expectations in any way.