Mr. Speaker, I was not supposed to speak in the House today. I was not planning to do so but I was touched by a few of the arguments of my friends from the Reform Party.
One of my friends from the Reform Party said, and I fully agree with him, that we the people of the House of Commons are getting rich while the poor people in Canada are getting poorer every day.
First, the goal of the Bloc Quebecois is the sovereignty of Quebec. There will be a referendum soon. If we win it, and I think we will, all the people from the Bloc will lose their jobs and we will have no pension. We are not in the debate for that reason.
Second, I was also touched by an argument that is often brought forward by my friends in the Reform and I fully agree with that argument too. Slowly but surely we are hitting the wall and it is going to be quite soon.
I was reading this morning that a few economists, probably Canadian economists, were talking about a possible recession not later than the beginning of 1996. I saw a few papers last week where a few economists from the United States were talking
about a possible slowdown in the U.S., say in 1997. All these things ahead of us are not good news at all.
Also we accept the fact that the Wall Street Journal was talking of a possible breakdown of Canada from an economical point of view. We can look at the budget too. My friends from the Reform Party said it many times and I agree with a lot of their suggestions.
If we look at the budget we see all the cuts and we very well know that despite the billions cut the debt problem will be there next year and the year after. We are in a vicious circle and if we do not do something, nothing will get us out of this circle.
Since the beginning of this Parliament I have been listening to the ideas of my friends from the Reform Party. If there is one thing I realized throughout all the arguments, I never said it before but I will say now, people in the Reform Party came here with a certain naive point of view. I say very positively they had a new way of seeing things. They wanted to change things in a system that has been going on and on forever. We have to have a naive point of view to change things.
Most people were in a type of profound deception and realized today that despite all the good ideas nothing will be changed. Up to a certain point I understand their feelings. The Reform Party should realize that despite all the good ideas it has, and some are effectively good ideas, it will never be able to put them to the test because the political situation will not allow it.
Perhaps my friends will not like this comment, but the Reform Party will never be elected in Quebec. My friends from the Reform who were second in many areas in Ontario could very well think of winning an election if Quebec were not there.
My friends should think seriously about supporting the sovereignty of Quebec. Otherwise all the good ideas will stay good ideas with no meaning at all because the Reform will never be in power to put those ideas to work.
I remind my friends we do not want to destroy Canada. We fully understand Canada must go through a profound change. We think one change has to be a political one. Our friends believe and I also believe it also has to be an economic change. We are ready to make the first part of the change, a political one, to become sovereign, and to take our fair share of the Canadian assets and the debt and pay it. Every day we will pay our share of the debt and we will go on. Canadians will be able to control their country the way they want to and Reform will be able to think seriously about getting into power and making the major changes it feels it must make. For the moment this is only a dream.
About three months ago I had a discussion with one of my friends from the Reform Party. He told me the only thing Quebec wants is more power and more money. My friend is absolutely right. What my friend did not seem to understand is that it is the federalists in Quebec who that. The sovereignists do not want that at all. We do not want more power and more money. We want all the power and no money at all. We want to be at home in Quebec. We will pay our fair share of the debt and the Reform Party will be able to get into power in Canada and make the major changes.
For the moment this idea may seem strange but it is one to think about. I hope my friends will think about it.