Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Pabok said that the government knew 11 months before the official announcement by Noranda that Murdochville's smelter, Mines Gaspé, would shut down.
The federal government did not even deign to pass this information on to the Quebec government or to the mayor of Murdochville.
Does the secretary of state for regional development not find it unacceptable and irresponsible that the government should keep to itself information that was critical to the fate of a whole town, since this resulted in missed opportunities to preserve the future—