Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Saint-Denis for her question.
Speaking of propaganda, I hardly think we can criticize the Government of Quebec, when we consider the 23 million flags distributed by the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
The hon. member for Saint-Denis asked me how the Quebec government will balance its books at the end of the current fiscal year and in the years to come, to help the disadvantaged. Well, it will not be easy. The Quebec cabinet is involved in a series of complex accounting exercises. They may have to renegotiate collective agreements with unions in the public and parapublic sector, and that will not be easy.
Now, if the federal government were to send, as soon as possible, a first instalment on the $1.9 billion the federal government owes to Quebec for harmonizing the GST with its provincial sales tax, that would be a good start.
If the federal government then sent another cheque as a first instalment on the $2 billion in transfer payments that were cut in the case of Quebec, over the past few years, we would be well on our way to balancing the budget, and we could go ahead and give people additional protection.
As I said before, historically, the percentage of disadvantaged people and poor people has always been higher in Quebec, because the federal government never did the kind of strategic spending it did in Ontario and the other provinces.
What Quebecers want is research and development and investment in technology.