Mr. Speaker, on September 9, 1995 an article appeared in La Presse under the heading ``Mirabel, an airport appreciated only outside Canada''. According to a survey of 30,000 air travellers carried out by the International Air Transport Association, Mirabel ranked fifth among world airports for efficiency.
According to this article, Mirabel's problems were a result of the federal government's decision to authorize air connections directly
between Toronto and Europe, thus stripping Mirabel of its exclusive status as the Canadian point of entry for transatlantic flights.
On February 19, the new Minister of Transport blamed Quebec separatists for the failure of Mirabel. I wish to denounce the minister's statement on behalf of all Quebecers, especially the people of Mirabel. This was just one more proof of how easy it is to gratuitously blame the people of Quebec for the mistakes of one's own government.