Madam Speaker, I will share the 20 minutes allocated to me with my colleague from Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques.
I would like to start by thanking my constituents in Matapédia—Matane. The riding is so big it could be a country. I say this for the benefit of my hon. friends opposite, because many have never set foot in my riding, except to make an announcement and wave the Canadian flag during election campaigns.
My riding extends from Saint-Moïse to Maria and from Baie-des-Sables to Madeleine. This is 750 kilometres. In other words, as far as Amqui to Ottawa. It takes about 10 hours or a day to travel the perimeter.
I want to thank my constituents for putting their trust in me. Some of them reelected me, others elected me for the first time. The people of Matapédia—Matane elected me to a second term. This is when I made the best showing. I served them well for four years, and I got a substantial majority. In Avignon and Denis-Riverin it was a little harder, because I was not as well-known. So I think we can say that Bloc members have to get out there and meet people and also cover a lot of ground.
People put their trust in me because I was there for them, but it is more than that. They trusted the man who defended sovereignty during the election campaign. I was very frank. I told them that if they wanted to elect a federalist, there were some very good ones. There were some outstanding candidates. But if they wanted to elect a sovereignist, there was only one choice. And today, I am here. Again, I thank the people in my riding.
These people are not stupid. They are sick and tired of hearing meaningless terms like “distinct society” and “unique society”. Some people, one of them a fisher, said “as unique as Matane shrimp”. What does that mean?