Mr. Speaker, Athabasca is in my colleague's riding. That is where much of the oil sands development is located. I understand that he knows and can tell me where the workers in his region are from. He has told me in the past that 25,000 jobs still need to be filled in his riding. There is a shortage of the labour needed to develop the oil sands. The problem is that he is repeating what the Minister of Labour said to the citizens of his riding in the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean area, that is, that there are jobs to be had in western Canada. That is what he is doing and that is the Conservative way. He explains that jobs are being created elsewhere and, basically, he would not dare publicly say that perhaps people from Quebec should go there to work.
The goal is not to displace populations. That was already tried in previous centuries. We know that the forests will continue to grow and forest-based products will continue to sell around the world. What is important is to focus our efforts and to ensure that our businesses are modernized and able to compete on the market. This has been done in other countries, such as Ireland. This is achieved by helping businesses. The Conservative philosophy, however, as my colleague is trying to convey, is to tell people from other places to go work elsewhere in Canada. In his riding, some people come from Ontario and others from Quebec.
That is fine. All the better. But my goal in life is to ensure that the people who are in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean remain in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean and earn a living there; that those who live in the Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel riding earn a living in that region; that those who live in the Pontiac riding earn a living there; that those from the Gaspé earn a living there. That is my goal in life and what I am working for here.
Every day, like all my Bloc Québécois colleagues, I am proud to rise here to defend the interests of Quebeckers and to try to ensure that wealth is distributed in a way that allows everyone to live comfortably in all areas of Quebec. My goal is not to rise here to tell people they should go work in my colleague's riding, in western Canada. That is not the objective.