Madam Speaker, first, I want to congratulate my colleague from Rimouski-Neigette-et-la Mitis for her eloquent speech. We can see that she has really studied what she was talking about and has a very good grasp of it. You are missing a fine discussion with her, I am sure.
However, we cannot talk about banks and the Bank Act without talking about a distinguished Quebecer who tackled the issue in the last few years. The hon. members know that I am talking about Yves Michaud, a former Quebec delegate to Paris and who, instead of taking a very comfortable and well-deserved retirement, decided instead, in spite of his age, to put all his energy, all his talent and all his eloquence—and has plenty of all that—at the service of not only the consumers, but also of small equity investors. He wanted to make the operations and management of the banks and probably the Bank Act itself more democratic and more beneficial to those who put their trust in this very important system in our social and economic culture.
Therefore, I would like to honour Mr. Michaud for the very important things he did for the nation and people of Quebec.
The hon. member for Rimouski-Neigette-et-la Mitis made me realize that there is one more argument to add to our long list of arguments in favour of promoting sovereignty. We sovereignists have so many arguments that we need to update the list regularly. However, there is one that was offered to us on a silver plate in this financial institutions reform, and it is the terms and conditions governing special treatment, the special status. I think it is most appropriate to use this expression in relation to the National Bank, the national bank of Quebecers, the bank of SMBs.
The 20% foreign ownership of major Canadian banks becomes 65% in the case of Quebec's national bank. I would like my colleague, the member for Rimouski-Neigette-et-la Mitis, to tell us what, according to her, might be the intentions of the federal government in granting a special status not to Quebec but to its national bank.
Without imputing motives to the federal government, what is its purpose in putting the National Bank in such a vulnerable position, totally exposed to foreign control? A crucial sector of our economy could end up in the hands of foreign interests.
I would like to know if the member has an opinion on this, on the deeper motives of this government toward Quebec and the national bank of Quebecers.