Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a test for the Conservative government. The Conservatives have no more excuses, no more pretexts to hide behind. They now have to face facts. If the recognition of the Quebec nation truly is more than just words, it has to be followed by a number of actions.
About the nation, I remind hon. members that the government's first action was to reduce the representation of Quebec in the House of Commons. That was one of the first Conservative proposals. Then, just like the Liberals, they refuse to discuss the realities of recognizing the Quebec nation as regards its linguistic rights and its legislative rights in certain areas like securities.
My colleague from the Bloc who asked the question seemed to believe in an alternation between Conservatives and Liberals. Let me tell him this. The NDP has about 40 members from British Columbia to Nova Scotia and has a strong, credible and progressive voice that garnered close to 20% of the votes in the last election. The Liberals mistakenly elected a right-wing leader, thinking that the problem with their last leader was that he was too much of a leftist. That was not the problem. The problem was that they did not represent anything. Considering the leader the Liberals just chose, many Canadians will be looking for a progressive voice for the future, and that voice is the New Democratic Party.