Mr. Speaker, I do not know if my colleague from the Bloc, when he mentions provincial political efficiency in regional economic development, thinks about the Gaspe. I hope not. It is a fiasco, with which the Government of Quebec and the Société générale de financement were closely linked. Mr. Blanchet and Mrs. Marois were partners. Is it the example of a regional success story the hon. member wants to give?
We hear about duplication. I find it curious that the Government of Quebec created a revenue department. It is a choice they made, and we respect that. However, the other provinces did not make that choice. It is duplication. We respect that too. Elsewhere, we had the RCMP; they decided to have Sûreté du Québec, not that we are complaining.
Competition is not exclusive to the private sector. It exists between departments or between levels of government in an effort to provide better service to Canadians. Since 1997, I have had the honour to sit here as the member for Beauce. I was here during the manpower training issue. There was a healthy competition between provincial and federal departments then.
Today, we avoid duplication. We transfer annually $600 million to the Province of Quebec. Now, there is no more duplication, but people have to take a number and wait for their turn. Do they have better service? I am not sure, but this is what stakeholders wanted and we accepted it.
However, we are able to work together. If the Bloc member is here to defend the interests of his constituents and of Quebeckers, he will help us implement an independent agency with the tools to contribute to the economic development of the regions. That is what we are doing.
I remember that, during the softwood lumber crisis, the members of the Bloc were asking us to do something, because the situation made no sense. We accepted, we contributed approximately $300 million to help in that file, but we could not support the industry. I asked the members of the Bloc what the PQ government did. Was it not there to help? They answered that this was an international issue. Are the men and women living in regions international? No. They need support. What did the PQ do? Absolutely nothing.
Would that mean it is not perfect? Indeed, it is not perfect. Have they done good things? Yes, they have. We also have done positive things, we want to work with the Province of Quebec. With a liberal government at the federal level and in Quebec, it is much easier because we both have the same interest: that is, the Quebec people.