Mr. Speaker, on the hon. member's statement that the federal government is trying to centralize powers in Ottawa even more than past governments, that statement is absolutely correct.
He went on to say that federal governments over past decades have taken over powers which are rightfully provincial powers. The hon. member is 100 per cent correct.
Reform's vision of a new Canada includes a much smaller federal government, with much less power centralized in its hands, and with provincial powers returned to the provinces as they were laid out in the original Constitution. I can understand the hon. member's frustration, which we feel in Alberta, to the continual movement on the part of the federal government, particularly over the last 30 years, to take over powers which are rightfully those of the provinces.
I want to make those comments to the hon. member and to the people of Quebec, acknowledging this is a problem which must be reversed. If that happens, as the Reform Party has laid out in its vision of a new Canada, Quebecers will be happy to be a part of the country. If that does not happen, as it certainly will not
under this government, Quebecers will want to leave. I can understand that.