Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague, who is a fellow member of the Committee on human resources development, is right to recall something that happened at Christmas time. Members of different parties sang together. This shows, on our part at any rate, that our intention is not to fight against individuals, against other Canadians, because we do not dislike them, we do like them, even though some are even more likable than others. We like them a lot and we feel that some of them do like us too.
That is not the problem. The problem is with the system, a two tier system, a federal system that might be suitable for the rest of Canada, but not for Quebecers. Even though you do like us, even though we keep repeating the same things to you, you do not understand how important it is for us to manage the areas of provincial jurisdiction mentioned in the constitution, like education. Yet everything was spelled out in this contract concluded in 1867 between the two founding peoples which had agreed upon that.
You know very well that since World War II, the federal government, through its spending power, has been interfering in areas of provincial jurisdiction, and Quebec resents that. Yes, we are a different people, even though we do like you. This is not about fighting each other. That is why the Bloc Quebecois has stressed the need to maintain an economic union with the rest of Canada, and to propose such a union.
As for the management of public finances, and our taxes, as for what we feel is important to us like education and job training, we would like to manage that by ourselves. We are telling you again. You do like us, but you do not understand. If the minister or his predecessors understood or cared to give the impression they understand, the problem would easily be solved. The government could take the funds earmarked for occupational training, give tax points to Quebec, and set national standards for the rest of Canada.
We are not trying to paralyse the rest of Canada. We simply want to use the powers that were granted to us in 1867. Those are Quebec's historical demands.
The hon. member for Brome-Missisquoi is well aware of that, since he is from Quebec. All Quebec governments, including the Liberal government of which his brother was a member, demanded that tax points for occupational training be handed over. He should understand. He knows what this is all about. But there is the party line. The party line held fast despite all the demonstrations witnessed by my two honourable colleagues who sat on the human resources development committee. Yesterday, they voted with the government on Bill C-76 implementing the budget, despite all they had seen and heard, like tables being overturned in Montreal, and demonstrations in Vancouver.
I went to 23 of the 27 cities you mentioned, and you know perfectly well that there were demonstrations in all of them. People do not want cuts in social programs. They say our deficit and our debt are not due to social programs, and that the roots of the problem are to be found elsewhere, particularly in our tax system.