Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to debate Bill C-88, the implementing legislation for the supposed internal trade agreement within Canada.
Of all of the bills that have come through the House in the past months this one is perhaps of more importance than many others. As my hon. colleague who spoke mentioned, it seems to have slipped through with very little interest on the part of the House and Canadians at large.
In my comments today I would like to spend a few minutes talking about what the trade barriers cost us as individuals. Also I am going to spend a good deal of time talking about the relationship between Quebec and the rest of the country. This is really what it boils down to. When our friends from Quebec talk about a relationship with the rest of the country, post separation, they are really talking about how they would keep all the benefits that we have together in this northern part of North America without shooting each other in the foot.
This has to be of paramount importance to the people of Quebec. They would not be very happy if they found themselves in an independent country, bankrupt and no one to trade with. Nor would the rest of Canadians find themselves in a very happy situation. I want to spend a few moments if I may to record exactly how important this trade is between Canada interprovincially, Canada nationally.
I am indebted for much of what I am going to say to the Fraser Institute and in particular-