Mr. Speaker, the premiers launched this initiative in December 1997. The provinces submitted their proposals in June 1998. The federal government responded with a counter-proposal in July 1998. Since then, work has been progressing well.
The PQ government stayed away from these negotiations until the very end. Yesterday, Mr. Parizeau explained why the PQ is in now: they hope to make the negotiations fail so as to create winning conditions. Winning conditions for Lucien Bouchard are losing conditions for Quebeckers.