Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the discourse of the member for Durham and I was trying to think what it reminded me of. I have finally remembered. It is the same discourse we heard in 1970, 1971 and 1972 in the early Trudeau years. It is the same kind of discourse we heard then, telling us that the federal government would create a just society, that it could spend in all sorts of sectors outside its jurisdiction, and that we were going to see that it would be able to do it much better than any of the provinces or anyone close to the issue and the people.
This is exactly what the present government brings to mind. After three and a half years, it has been forced, by a large deficit, to retract its promises and to adopt the Reform Party platform, just as the Trudeau government borrowed from the NDP platform in order to stay in power. This is exactly the image that comes to mind.
I would like to ask the member a question. In this context, the Minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development made a wonderful announcement last week “We are going to invest in employment and partnership for young people, in community futures development corporations, to set up a program to help people start a business, and to hire youth advisers”. This is great for votes, it is very laudable and sounds very interesting.
But we now know—we can no longer forget—that in the provinces, such as Quebec, structures have already been planned for the strategic development of local areas. The federal government steps in, bringing with it further duplication of existing programs: it creates a new program that will do exactly the same thing.
Is that the model that is ultimately going to be offered? Will the citizens of Quebec and Canada once again be told that, now that it has turned the screws a little tighter, the federal government will again begin to meddle in affairs that do not properly concern it?