Mr. Speaker, the Premier of Quebec, who was appointed by only 203 Pequistes, said that the dollars are in Ottawa, while the needs are in Quebec.
However, Mr. Landry and PQ members made no mention of the studies of Richard Le Hir on sovereignty, which resulted in a major fiasco for the Parti Quebecois, then led by Jacques Parizeau.
Quebec's treasury is full of money. This year an additional $953 million will come from Ottawa under the equalization program and another $500 million next year. Quebec has only allocated $10 million out of the $730 million that it invested in eight non-profit organizations, and it will get an additional $1 billion in federal transfers this year for health, also let us not forget the $840 million treasure still sitting in a trust in Toronto.
What Quebecers really want is not a referendum, but substantial tax cut and the elimination of the indexation of provincial tax tables, just like the federal government did.