Mr. Speaker, they tell me that today there was a smile on the face of the statue of Maurice Duplessis in front of the Quebec National Assembly.
Why is that? Because the separatist government has decided to resort to a method worthy of the Duplessis era, namely to cut off universities and research centres if they receive funding from the Government of Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation in particular.
That is the latest bright idea of the Bloc's head office in Quebec City, where they had run out of ideas for stirring up the Government of Canada. So here we are, back to the old dark days in Quebec.
University administrators are, understandably, not comfortable with the situation. Researchers do not like separatist politicians trying to make political hay at their expense. The federal program was, moreover, created in keeping with the rules and meets community concerns.
Because of the challenges of research and the strong competition in this area of activity, Canada is forced to step up its efforts to create a comfortable niche for itself. Quebec must not push the sector of high technology and innovation aside. Another fine opportunity for the development of Quebec has been lost by the separatists.