Madam Speaker, the answer to that is quite simple: it is to favour its friends. There is no other reason. The government is far more sensitive to political affinities than to regional economic development, particularly in Quebec.
I am happy my colleague raised this issue. In the past, this section was used to prevent Quebec portfolios from acquiring too many shares. In Quebec, we have a number of development tools such as the General Investment Corporation, the Caisse de dépôt et placement, the Fonds de solidarité, major players that can become significant shareholders in various projects. The federal government did not like the 10% rule in some cases. Sometimes it suited the government, sometimes it did not, but we will have to see the consequences this will have in the future.
How will it be possible now to justify this in the other sectors still subject to this rule? If the government wanted a debate on whether the 10% rule is important or not, we could have had that debate outside the context of the Onex, Air Canada and Canadian transaction.
But the government now wants to change the rules in mid-game, in a specific case, to favour one player in particular. This is totally unacceptable. That is why the House must support the motion to reaffirm that the rules will not be changed.