Mr. Speaker, I wanted to give my colleague from Joliette a chance to make up for this to a certain extent, although you did warn him about the quotes he used.
He was however successful in summarizing what happened in 1982 and 1983 and in describing how the federal government at the time, a Liberal government by the way, tried to bring the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec to heel. As he mentioned, it is ironic that the same government would, 36 years later, set up a similar institution for the benefit of all Canadians.
I would like my colleague from Joliette to go a bit further and tell us about the benefits Quebec has reaped from the Caisse de dépôt et placement. I would remind the House that the caisse has been in existence for 36 years now and has become a major investor in our economy. Unless I am mistaken, it is the eighth biggest company in terms of the assets it manages.
I do hope that the board being created here today by the federal government will benefit Canada as much as the Caisse de dépôt et placement has benefited Quebec.
I would like my colleague to elaborate a bit more on the Caisse de dépôt et placement and on the context in which it was set up. It was created during the Quiet Revolution, at a time when there was an increase not only in economic activity, but also in the business of all Quebec institutions. I would like the member to briefly comment on this.