Mr. Speaker, I differ from my colleague. I was not amused by those remarks but somewhat saddened because they are so far off base. What was on base was a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on the effects of the government's policies in my region. The report indicates that as a result of the government's punitive action against Atlantic Canada, Atlantic Canadian communities and Atlantic Canadian families, “approximately 4400 direct full-time equivalent federal jobs, representing at least $300 million in salaries and wages, will be lost in the Atlantic region by 2014–15”.
The Conservative government is damaging the Atlantic Canadian economy. Now we have a senator, a political hack for the Prime Minister from the other place, in Atlantic Canada saying that he wants to fix this economic chaos by destroying the Constitution and eliminating Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as provinces.
I ask the member, is it the Conservative Party's policy to do away with the constitutional and sovereign rights of maritime Canadians?