Mr. Speaker, this morning we learned that the number of welfare recipients in Quebec had increased drastically, from 550,000 in 1990 to 808,000 this year. To make things even worse, 188,000 of these recipients, or close to 25 per cent of them, live in Montreal. That city is in fact the main victim of the federal government's negligence and incompetence.
This deterioration of the situation also confirms that federal reforms designed to improve the plight of the poor have failed miserably. This government only managed to make things worse.
When will the federal government realize that it cannot deliver and that it must provide Quebec with the necessary tools to develop a real job strategy? This government's stubbornness confirms that sovereignty is the only solution for Quebec.