Madam Speaker, that is how the article reads, and I asked permission to read the article, but I will refer to the Minister of Transport.
I was saying:
We could easily have him disqualified for being biased in the matter of the airline merger. Unfortunately, he is a minister. For quite some time we suspected the Minister of Transport—
This is not the Bloc Quebecois speaking. That is what was written in the paper this morning.
—of being biased in favour of the Onex proposal, if only because of the remarkably close ties that exist between that company, Canadian Airlines International, and the Liberal Party of Canada. Tuesday, before the transport committee of the House of Commons, the Minister of Transport provided the last piece of evidence proving that he is indeed biased with regard to this issue. He announced that the federal government was prepared to suspend—without asking for anything in return—the application of the act that prevents an individual or a company to hold more than 10% of Air Canada shares. The 10% rule is important because it is the only legal obstacle to the Onex proposal, which is the only proposal that requires such a change. Such a rule limiting concentration of ownership was included, mind you, in practically all transactions to privatize Crown corporations over the last few years. While in the public interest, this limitation will be waived by the government in support of a proposal made by a private company. Most importantly, it was the only lever available to the federal government to have a direct influence on this transaction, which will determine to a large extent the future of air transportation in Canada. It is a rather unique situation. Onex made a proposal that could not even be considered without an amendment to an act of parliament. Practically at the first opportunity, the government announced that it would agree to this request and not ask anything in return.
The article goes on:
This is what the transport minister means by “parliamentary consultation”. It is a kind of consultation that is completely meaningless because it comes after the fact, after the vote on Onex's offer by Air Canada's shareholders. We might as well say that the transport minister works for Onex.
I did not say it, it is in today's paper. The article goes on:
Of course, if we do not allow the government to modify the 10% rule, Onex's offer will die.
It is quite clear.
We could always believe that the government does not want Air Canada to win by default. However, there must be an amendment to an act of parliament to make Onex's offer legal. That must be justified by saying that the Canadian public will gain something from it. Better guarantees for air service in remote areas could have been required.
For example, in my riding, on the north shore, the distance between Ottawa and Sept-Îles is 1,200 kilometres. And the price of tickets is very high. A trip from Ottawa to Sept-Îles costs more than $1,000.
The article goes on:
Do you know of many corporations that have got, with nothing in return, such favours from a government, when their bids were contrary to the law and could not have been made to the interested shareholders? But the Minister of Transport had nothing to ask for in return. We might as well say right away the minister works for Onex. Meanwhile, it has to be noted that this same government and this same minister did not lift a finger to help Air Canada, the more profitable of the two corporations, but the one that is unfortunate enough not to have friends in high places among the friends and the bagmen of the Liberal Party of Canada. What is even more ironic is when the minister states that once the airlines merger is completed, the government intends to be very watchful of the new monopoly, that it intends to protect the rights of consumers and the rights of official language minorities and that it will deal severely with any attempt to inflate prices. In short, the government intends to watch closely the new monopoly, but it claims that it has no role to play in the creation of the new monopoly and that it is letting market forces determine everything. As long, of course, as the market sees to it that the friends of the government end up the winners.
I really wanted to quote this article. I think I will only skim over the other one. I will not read from it, but comment on it. I will defend the position of the Bloc Quebecois.
In this morning's issue of Le Droit , we see that on air transportation “The Liberals do not agree with each other”.
But where are the Liberals? During the last campaign, a Liberal delegation came in my riding and told us not to stay behind the boards, but jump on to the ice instead. Where are the Liberal members for Quebec now, when they should be jumping in and exposing the unfairness of this government? We know for a fact that, in this government, only one vote counts, the Prime Minister's vote. If he votes yea, all Liberal members vote the same way. If the votes nay, they all say nay.
They do have a spokesperson. But the parrots all keep repeating what their boss says. They have marching orders. That is how the government views democracy. Did members ever see the hon. member for Vaudreuil—Soulanges stand up for Quebecers in the House and disagree with the government? Where is he? He keeps repeating the same old story and he tries to come up with a defence for the transport minister.