Mr. Speaker, I do indeed have five minutes left for arguments to convince the Conservative government to vote in favour of the Bloc Québécois motion. In fact, in response to questions from the Bloc on harmonization with the GST, the minister and member from the south shore indicated that the Government of Quebec wanted to reach agreement with the Conservative government. Would that mean that the Government of Quebec would just give up? Yet there was a motion adopted by the National Assembly. Would Quebec give up its demand for the $2.6 billion and the right to collect and administer the two taxes?
The Quebec National Assembly called—in a motion from all members—for the Conservative government to recognize Quebec's jurisdiction over taxation. I doubt that the Conservative Party would consent to that. Promises were made to us, but this would not be the first broken promise by one government after another. The Liberals too had made promises to us, promises that were broken once they were elected. Now it is the Conservatives' turn. Just think of Mr. Trudeau and his statement in 1980 that Quebec would stand to gain: what we got was the patriation of the Constitution. In 1984, Mr. Mulroney promised Quebec that he would bring it back into the constitutional fold with honour and enthusiasm; we came up against a wall and what Quebeckers got was a watered down Meech Lake accord.
Then the Liberals came back to power with other promises. Jean Chrétien promised lots of changes: what we got was the Clarity Act and the muzzling of Quebec as far as determination of its desire for sovereignty was concerned. They wanted to determine the question in Quebec's stead, Then the Liberals tried to buy us with the sponsorship scandal. Now we can see how the Conservatives are approaching the celebration of Canada in Quebec. Pretty much the same way the Liberals did. The Conservatives have no qualms about giving away the taxpayers' dollars. They are giving Quebec 85% of the total envelope earmarked for Canada Day. On the other hand, when they are asked to give Quebec its fair share, whether in connection with equalization or for Quebec's forest companies, the Conservatives do not have the same propensity to understand the realities of Quebec.
The Conservatives promised us great, open federalism, but we see clearly that this ship has sprung a leak. They said they would put an end to disputes between the federal and provincial governments. Yet, during the last election campaign, we saw that all those disputes continued. They have disregarded the various motions we present here in this Parliament, motions adopted by the Quebec National Assembly. Yet, it can be said that the members of the Quebec National Assembly are not all sovereignists.
Once again, we see clearly that almost the same thing always happens with a federalist party. When it comes time to recognize Quebec’s determination to collects its own taxes, the federal government, all federalist parties included, have about the same attitude, because to do otherwise would upset the rest of Canada. We can understand their logic. They are far from willing to recognize Quebec's different responsibilities in constitutional matters. They are very far from willing.
We would have wished that the Conservative government would change its mind today and recognize that, as part of the harmonization of the GST in the Atlantic provinces and Ontario, there was compensation of $1 billion for each of the three Atlantic provinces, and a bit more than $4 billion for Ontario.
We know that they gave compensation to Ontario, which is, after all, a double standard. Why Ontario but not Quebec? They say that Quebec can no longer collect its own tax and the federal tax.
Today, they dared to answer a question from the Bloc Québécois by saying that Quebec has been compensated because it receives $1 billion a year for administering what the federal government gives free of charge to the other provinces. Officials are on the job to do what the federal government was supposed to do; however, it had been agreed that in Quebec, it was the Government of Quebec that would be responsible for administration.
Now, we are hearing a different tune. The Conservatives have changed their position. Compensation was based on a collection system that included losses. If those losses exceeded 5%, compensation was provided. However, when the Conservatives came to power, they disregarded that and took a new approach, which gives them the right to negotiate with the other provinces as if they wished to be harmonized; but not Quebec. It is the members from Quebec—