Mr. Speaker, I hope that my colleague does not expect me to congratulate the government.
To start with, I would like to set the record straight regarding some of his comments. He said that Greeks have always been Greeks. If they celebrate Independence Day in Greece, it is precisely because they had to gain their independence. He said that we have always been part of Canada, and yet we were here well before Canada became a country. Lastly, he tried to tell us that we do not have that many problems in Canada.
I have been a sovereignist for a long time, but in Quebec, many became sovereignists in 1982. Why in 1982? Because that was when the basic agreement holding this country together was torn up; Quebec was excluded. And today we are told that it is not a problem. It is just as if two individuals had signed a lease and the owner had gone down into his basement to redraft every single clause of the lease, and the revised version became the real lease to
be used by all parties. The tenant would have every right to consider this a breach of contract.
In 1982, the Canadian Constitution was patriated, the terms were changed and no government in Quebec, even a federalist government, has agreed to sign it. Quebecers had some of their rights taken away. And today we are told that we should stop talking about it, that it is not important.
I am sorry, but the basic agreement in this country has been torn up. Quebec did not refuse to go along with the Constitution, rather, it was excluded from the Constitution. What we are confronted with today is the result, the consequence of this Prime Minister's actions. We must not forget that the current Prime Minister is the one who brought the Constitution back from England, the same one who is now saying: "Stop talking talk about the Constitution; let us talk about real issues. I changed your lease, but never mind that, we love you very much; let us talk about real issues".
I am very sorry, but that is exactly what we are planning to do: talk about real issues.
To my hon. friend, who says that 263,000 jobs were created, I will reply as the people of my riding would. Quite simply put: Where? That is what they would say: Where?
People who go out for a stroll in downtown Montreal notice all the stores that are closed. I was a carpenter in a previous life. Today, there is nothing left for carpenters in Montreal, neither construction work nor retail stores. Half the stores are closing their doors. Where are these 263,000 jobs he is talking about? In light of the long list of businesses that have to lay off workers, I wonder: where are these 263,000 new jobs? I realize that this is what statistics say, but what the people want to know, however, is: Where?
Finally, there is this nice initiative to stimulate job creation. We had one in place in Quebec: the RRSP of the FTQ investment fund. This was the only tax measure that promoted any real job creation, and they just chopped it to create, maybe, a few student summer jobs. I do not know how many exactly. Student summer jobs are being created, while at the same time, measures truly capable of creating employment in the long run are being chopped.
On the one hand, they will be giving students a few jobs for the summer, but on the other hand, by cutting transfers to the provinces, they are making their school fees go up. Where is the logic in that? Personally, I can see none. If the government deserves praise for anything, it is for helping us show the public that we no longer have our place in there. With 25 per cent of the voting shares, you have no power over the company. When this company is going bankrupt, it is time to pull out.