Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your appointment.
The member, well known in this House, has just made some fairly trite remarks. It is always the same old story from the hon. member on the subject of federal government meddling in areas under provincial jurisdiction.
I know that the member has a lot of criticisms on the Minister of Finance's position on the economy. I must say that our economy is in full recovery. I realize it is difficult for the member to comprehend the fact that this Minister of Finance is not only one of the most popular ministers of finance, but his ideas, words and leadership have revitalized our economy. It is bouncing back for good reason.
I find it very interesting that the Bloc Quebecois members continue to talk about the fact that so much money is being taken away from them and that somehow the federal government can be blamed for just about everything. Frankly after having heard that for three or four years in the past Parliament we think perhaps there could be some kind of development to their thinking.
This might be a good opportunity for the Bloc Quebecois to rethink things, given that the economy is recovering vigorously.
I offer a few points raised by the member opposite on the political and monetary plans of the government and the Bank of Canada.
Madam Speaker, it will not come as a surprise to you that in this country the federal government does not interfere and does not ever want to do what it did some 35 or 40 years ago when it interfered in monetary policy. It goes to prove just how out of touch the Bloc Quebecois is when it failed to recognize that after 35 years, in my lifetime, we have never seen interest rates this low.
So why Bloc members would continue or why they would obsess themselves with the idea that somehow this is a major problem is beyond me. What I can tell the hon. member, and I am sure Madam Speaker you would understand, is that our economy has never done any better. From my view I think what the hon. Minister of Finance has done is not only commendable, it is exceptional.
In this context, could the hon. member, in his wisdom, not acknowledge here in the House that our economy, including that of the province of Quebec, is in full recovery and that the cuts in assistance to the disadvantaged came not only from the federal government, but also from the provincial government and his former party chief? Would he not agree, with the rest of the country, that the reality of the 1990s is that we must provide sound financial management for the disadvantaged, the poor and the future?