Mr. Speaker, the answer to the first part of my colleague’s question is quite simple. We are facing an infrastructure deficit because in the 1990s the federal government decided to cut transfers to the provinces. I know that the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities is aware of this, because at the time he was in municipal government, as I was. He was affected by the savage cuts in federal-provincial transfers. Afterward, the provinces cut the budgets of the municipalities and school boards. Then, the municipalities and provincial governments invested less in their infrastructures, and today we have a record deficit in terms of infrastructures in bad condition.
Indeed, what all organizations concerned directly or indirectly with infrastructure are recommending to the federal government is that all of the 10¢ tax be invested in infrastructure programs, in compensation for the savage cuts in the 1990s.
Let there be no doubt. The infrastructure problem, including public transit, is only one part of what the Kyoto protocol represents. I think that the federal government will try to tell us that by solving public transit they will solve the problem, and the Kyoto targets can be achieved. However the reality is completely different.
The Government of Quebec is already further along than that. As I said earlier, we are producing public transit equipment. We need money to purchase this and provide our communities and our cities with this equipment. However we must also encourage the government of Quebec to continue investing in clean energy, in hydroelectricity and wind power. It must enter into partnerships with all the other countries of the world so that Quebec can achieve its greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Once again, these targets will be achieved in part through investment in infrastructures and public transit, and in part through other projects. That is why the federal government must not put limitations on Quebec. Quebec knows where it is going, unlike the federal government which does not know where it is going. There is the tragedy and the danger.
The federal government must be told to invest in infrastructure programs, but that is not how the Kyoto targets are going to be met. It is part of the answer, but Quebec has to be given the money it needs, because it has a real plan. It is the only province that has a plan, and it will be the first territory in North America to achieve the targets of the Kyoto protocol.