Mr. Speaker, Valeurs mobilières Desjardins, which is a subsidiary of Quebec's largest financial institution, has been excluded from the most important public share issue in Canadian history, that of Petro-Canada, to the tune of $3.2 billion. No justification was given for the fact that Desjardins is not among the 22 firms retained by the federal government.
Could the Prime Minister provide some explanation regarding this mysterious decision which, to this day, remains unexplained?