Mr. Speaker, I just listened to the Reform member's speech, about which I would simply like to raise a few small points.
He said that if Quebec were to declare its sovereignty, the rest of Canada would most certainly refuse to trade with it and to maintain current business relationships. I can only wonder if they are merely sabre rattling or if there is something more behind this. Can the frustration of western Canada still be so near to the boiling point? I do not know.
But when I imagine an independent or sovereign Quebec, I can only wonder whether you will refuse to sell us the beef we are accustomed to buying from you. After sovereignty, would you refuse to sell us beer made by Ontario breweries? Would you force us to buy our cars from the United States or France? Even the cold war with eastern block countries did not prevent members of the Reform Party, westerners, from selling thousands of tonnes of grain to Russia yearly, despite conflicts in ideology, to say the least.
I would like to ask them on what basis they would decide to cease selling to us-because Quebec attained sovereignty, took full possession of its means and its tools? I think that they would only be shooting themselves in the foot and scoring in their own nets. At any rate, that is my opinion and I would ask him to answer me. Is this anything more than sabre rattling?