And the people of Quebec, naturally.
Champlain had gone as far as Lake Champlain, one of the great lakes, which is now in the United States, unfortunately. The irony of it is the fact that Hudson, who had started from the other end, nearly met Champlain in the same period. They missed each other by 60 kilometres. Some were discovering from the south, Champlain was doing his discovering from north to south, and they almost met on Lake Champlain. I know that not many of those opposite are aware of this, but for us in the Bloc Quebecois, this is a fact of history everyone knows.
Not only do these people not know the history of Quebec, they also do not know the problems of the municipalities, which are having to cope with all sorts of economic imperatives and are sweating blood trying to make ends meet.
The federal government has laid hands on the employment insurance fund, and has managed without any scruples to get billions of dollars away from poor folk. I am thinking of the fishers in the maritimes and Quebec, the people of my native Gaspé.
They are in dire straits because of the decision by those in charge of Human Resources Development Canada, under the leadership of this heartless government, to make use of the employment insurance fund for its own purposes. They decided to use all the billions of dollars the fund generates to carry out partisan politics and to do my colleague, the honourable member for Rosemont, out of a considerable sum, in favour of the Prime Minister of Canada who represents the riding of Saint-Maurice.
I know. Madam Speaker, that my statements may be disturbing to you, but you also realize they are the truth.