Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell never fails to astound me as he stands up in this House and blames the country's problems on everyone else except the Liberal government.
Surely the hon. member realizes that over the last 35 years the Liberal government has held power in this country more than the Tories, far more than the Tories. All the things that have caused discontent in the province of Quebec could have been sorted out a long time ago by previous Liberal governments. Sure, the Bloc party has to take some credit for whipping up the current separatist feeling within Quebec, but the things the province of Quebec is asking for, such as devolution of powers and more control over things the province of Quebec could do better itself are the same things the other provinces in Canada have been asking for all these years.
Why did it take bringing the country to the very brink of separation which was caused by the Liberals' inept handling of the referendum campaign in Quebec? Why did it take coming so close to breaking up the country of Canada to wake the Liberals up to the point that finally after 35 years they are starting to talk about devolving some of the powers of the federal government to the provinces?