Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. The answer is very simple: we pay 25 per cent. We represent 25 per cent of the population and we pay for this dormitory, this nursery, this utterly useless place. As long as we stay within the federation, we will pay our $30 billion in taxes every year and we do have a say in the way that money is spent.
I am surprised every time somebody here, in the House of Commons, questions the legitimacy of this party and of its members who were democratically elected. I received 70 per cent of the votes in my riding, which means that 70 per cent of those who voted shared our party's position.
What is my party's position? It is different from that of other parties, obviously, because we are advocating a new kind of relationship with the rest of Canada based on two founding peoples with two strong governments bound by economic ties only.
The Liberals are advocating the 1982 Constitution, the Conservative Party is advocating constitutional amendments for the distinct society clause based on the principles contained in the Meech Lake accord, and the Reform Party has a different vision of the future of the two peoples because it is looking at issues such as official languages. Each party in the House has different ideas and has the right to express them.
Each time we rise in this House to talk about financial issues that concerns Quebecers as well as Canadians, we are asked why we, who want to destroy Canada, should have the right to express our views. We do not want to destroy Canada, we want to build Quebec. We want to build a country and we want to have friendly relations with the rest of Canada, we want to have economic ties as would any majority in the world. That is the goal of the Bloc Quebecois.
When we call for the abolition of the Senate, we defend Quebec's higher interests. That is why we were elected. We were sent here to promote Quebec's sovereignty and we are doing it democratically. We have the right to do it and I am sick and tired of hearing people question the sacred right of a people to choose its own destiny every time we rise in this House.