He is indeed a very good accountant.
It has been said that the $250 million will help the oil and gas companies pollute more. Instead of increasing research on renewable energy, we are going to increase pollution from fossil fuels. If the government really does not want to invest the $250 million in renewable energy research, there are a few other things I could suggest.
I toured Quebec in the course of my study on the guaranteed income supplement. The member for Sherbrooke knows what I am talking about, because I attended a meeting with him in Sherbrooke. We discovered something really incredible and interesting.
I learned that, for years, 68,000 Quebeckers have been deprived of the guaranteed income supplement. Older women in particular were affected. You know that 64% of women over the age of 65 live on less that $10,000 a year.
The government took the money from the guaranteed income supplement. If it does not know what to do with the $250 million that it is now giving so generously to companies that do not need it, it could maybe think about using the money to reimburse Canadian seniors who were deprived of this essential income.
I would like the member for Sherbrooke, who dealt with one of these cases personally, to tell me if he would agree that it would be much more effective to use the $250 million for this rather than giving it to the oil companies.