Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the Conservative government chose to abandon the regions and let them face the crisis in the manufacturing and forestry industries on their own. It will pay the political price for that in the next election. Since the Conservatives took office, more than 78,000 jobs have been lost in the manufacturing sector in Quebec, including some 44,000 in 2007 alone. None of the previous budgets or this year's budget will address that problem.
Faced with such devastation, will the government discontinue its irresponsible policy of putting all extra money toward the debt and announce today the establishment of a $7 billion trust to support the economy? That is what the citizens in the affected regions are asking: stop taking the money to pay down the debt—