Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member very much for showing such an interest in my political career. I would like to take this opportunity to explain further what social union is.
Quebeckers' view of it may be an abstract one. I shall define it very simply. Social union is Canadians helping Canadians, one of the most admirable forms of mutual assistance ever invented. We invented it, along with our fellow Canadians.
The difficult situation in which the province of Quebec finds itself, in large part because of the political uncertainty and the threat of secession, costs our provincial government $4.5 billion in revenue year after year, according to Georges Mathews, an economist with close ties to the Bloc Quebecois. Are we going to give responsibility for this social union to a premier who wants to destroy Canada, or to a Prime Minister who wants to—