Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to respond to my colleague from Malpeque. He spoke about equity. He admitted in his speech that an inequity problem had existed for a long time between Quebec and the rest of Canada.
He said that he used to be a farmer in the Maritimes. He knows full well that, a few years ago, potatoes from the Maritimes were fully subsidized for export to the Quebec market, while Quebec farmers had to pay transportation costs for their potatoes. Farmers in Quebec and the Maritimes were competing for the same Quebec consumers. If we are going to talk about equity, we should really do so.
With regard to transportation, the Crow rate has been eliminated, but some compensation formulas are still unfair to Quebec. Twenty-five years ago, I was too young to be involved in politics but some politicians, in whose footsteps I have followed, have told me: "Jean, you will see when you grow up how difficult it is to fight the federal government". I now realize that what I was told 25 years ago is still true today. All I am asking the government is to be fair to Quebec and the rest of Canada.