Mr. Speaker, I could respond to a number of points. I thank the member for his intervention. I remind him that Quebec Hydro has paid no income taxes. Nor was Quebec Hydro ever been subject to a raid by the federal government the equivalent of the national energy program, which is one of the differences between how energy has been treated in the west and how it has been treated in Quebec.
With respect to the agricultural impacts of the budget, I have heard other comments by the member's colleagues implying that there is some unfairness in the government cancelling the Crow rate and compensating western farmers to the tune of $1.6 billion and the 30 per cent reduction on subsidies to the dairy industry, a large portion of which is in Quebec.
I remind the member that the dairy industry gets its subsidies from two sources. One is directly from the government but the other is from the high level of protection that supply management is offered. That subsidy comes directly out of the pockets of the consumer and not from the government. If we add the levels of subsidy we find the subsidization of supply managed industries in Quebec is as high or higher than the more free market grain trade and livestock trade in the west.
It is for members from the province of Quebec to consider that if Quebec is an independent country the capacity of Quebec to subsidize and protect to the degree it has in the past is gone and those farmers would be hurt infinitely more than they would be by any measure under the budget.