Mr. Speaker, the provinces have needs in terms of infrastructure and, clearly, they do not have enough money, while the federal government has too much. The solution is to correct the fiscal imbalance and to transfer predictable revenues to the provincial governments.
I would also like to point out to the House that I issued a challenge to Conservative members to give me a list of programs, of the historical gains they claim to have given Quebec in their throne speech.
No one bothered to rise to try to show from which programs, over the past five or 10 years, the Government of Quebec could have opted out, if the promise to limit use of the federal spending power—which is in the throne speech—had been implemented. No one bothered to rise. I think their silence speaks volumes.
That promise is a sham. It is an empty promise. We are being promised something that we do not need, something that is already inapplicable. The three federalist parties continue to want to centralize the federation and tell Quebeckers what is good for them, while what Quebeckers really want is greater independence to build a society according to their own vision.