Madam Speaker, I listened attentively to the remarks of my colleagues, the hon. member for Newmarket—Aurora, the hon. member for Peace River and the hon. member for Saint-Jean. This made me want to take a brief look back, to remind the hon. members of the restructuring the current Prime Minister engaged in when he was the finance minister.
At the time, he downsized or shut down regional offices around the country, in an effort to reduce the workforce. The workforce was never reduced in Ottawa. In fact, it even continued to increase when services were no longer provided in remote areas.
Nowadays, department upon department is being established but not being given any additional powers. Today, we are dealing with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. A little while back, we dealt with the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the regions of Quebec. This is another example of dividing departments into two; ministerial positions are created, along with additional expenditures for limousine services and the like. During that time, the regions and the provinces are being financially strangled.
My hon. colleague has raised points on which we totally agree. Let me add one: the Canadian workforce, which is usually penalized to meet the needs of the government party, that is the Liberal Party. In this regard, I would like to ask my hon. colleague if it is really necessary to divide departments. Could divisions not simply be created within a given department, with a single minister in charge of their administration? The minister is never in the regions anyway. So, from his office, he could appoint people in the regions to provide adequate services.