Madam Speaker, I would never be ashamed to admit to having been a Conservative Party organizer if I had been, but that is not the case and I would just like to reassure the government whip. I just wanted to clarify that. Moreover, I was a Nationalist Party candidate in Quebec in 1984.
The government whip then goes on to say that I was too critical, that the Bloc Mps have been too critical. Here we have one of the four ratpack members, the one whom, when they were in opposition, the media labelled as the most aggressive, almost harassing,
member of the bunch. In fact he ran after ministers, even trying to break up their press conferences and other such antics.
Now he takes a holier-than-thou tone, speaks quietly, no aggression. He is the House whip now, and adopts this manner because he would like to cool down the emotions of the hon. member for Lévis.
This is the same hon. member who is heavily involved just now in collecting money for the poor souls accused by the director of elections for Quebec. They have been told that they spent money they ought not to have during the Quebec referendum last year. He is assuming that attitude, perhaps, to attract the sympathy of Quebecers, but they will not forget that.
Now, not knowing what more to say on the matter-he is probably tired, and has every reason to be-he starts to read a report that has nothing at all to do with today's question on economic growth. But let us talk about economic growth.
I have had the time to read another report, one that could well have worried the hon. member for Newfoundland just now, one which tends to show that investments are not very high in Quebec, among other things. Some say that the share of investments in Canada is only in the 11 or 12 per cent range, from its previous level of 17 per cent. This report indicates that 59 per cent of private investments are made in Ontario, his province.
The people in the other provinces ought to be really worried about this, since it means that all of the efforts of this government on the economic level are probably linked to the number of Liberal MPs in the province. In Ontario, practically all members are Liberals, so it flaunts the fact but does so discreetly so the other provinces will not notice. We all know this government has a very soft spot for Ontario.
I am from the riding of Lévis. When defence contracts are announced, MIL Davie is asked to tender its bid against another shipyard, but recently, when it was time to order army tanks, there was no call for tenders and the contract was awarded directly. People in other provinces have the right to hear about that.
The Bloc Quebecois, whatever members opposite may think about it, is the official opposition, and as such we condemn the treatment of family trusts. We did so during the last election campaign. We did not wait for the auditor general's report. We said this should be investigated.
At the very beginning, when the auditor general expressed its concerns about $2 billion that were transferred to the United States, all we asked is that the government shed some light on the question. The government whip can say anything he likes, but we in the Bloc Quebecois intend to keep insisting that this government
do everything that is necessary to clarify the situation around the transfer of $2 billion and that it take all necessary steps to ensure this does not happen again. We will not give up.