Mr. Speaker, a debate on the division of responsibilities between the federal government and the provinces was held with the Bloc Quebecois candidate at the Valleyfield Cegep. I would point out to the Bloc Quebecois member that when one is an MP, one represents the entire community. There is no breakdown of jurisdiction. One represents all members of the community. That is how I intend to operate in my riding.
If a constituent comes to me with a problem, I will not be the kind of member who might say “Go and see the MLA, because this does not concern me”. I was elected by the same people and I am going to represent them the same way.
With respect to the bridges—and contrary to what the member said, this is not a promise but an undertaking—I would like to remind him that between 1976 and 1985, when the Parti Quebecois was in power in Quebec, there was a moratorium on road construction.
In 1985, we made this a major theme in Montérégie. Between 1985 and 1994, we went back over this issue from A to Z. None of the corridors were retained. We achieved consensus in Montérégie. We finalized one corridor, and built two segments of highway, which had not been seen in Quebec since 1976, and we concluded the impact studies in 1993. In 1993, Quebec's Department of Transportation wrapped them up.
Unfortunately, we were defeated in the 1994 election. So the impact studies were not filed with IBC until 1997.
I have now returned to politics to continue the work begun back then. But now the problem is no longer necessarily a local, regional one. It has become a national problem, because now all of greater Montreal is involved.