Mr. Speaker, the federal debt is close to $600 billion. The Quebec government has made it clear that a sovereign Quebec would take its share of the responsibility for the federal debt. Yesterday in his speech, the finance minister, who excluded any negotiations with a sovereign Quebec, remained strangely silent on the division of the federal debt.
Would the finance minister agree that the federal government's enormous debt will make it incumbent on the government, in its own interest and in view of its responsibilities, to start negotiations with Quebec the day after the referendum, starting with the division of the debt?