Mr. Speaker, this is the second opportunity I have had to speak in the House, and I would like to begin by recognizing my constituents and thanking them for choosing me to represent the riding of Manicouagan. With 42% of the vote, I feel I have a strong mandate to represent them here in the House.
I would like to say a few words about something that seems to have been forgotten these past two days in the House, and that is the matter of respect. I see it on many faces and in certain speeches. The Speaker has also seen it today.
Of course, I could speak on behalf of the 42% who voted for me. At the same time, I am here to represent everyone in my riding. When I rise here, I do so in order to address the House, but as I promised, I also have the honour to do so on behalf of my constituents. It is a question of showing respect for all of my constituents, regardless of their political allegiances and despite the fact that I am a staunch and resolute separatist.
I want to reiterate to my constituents my commitment to build bridges, to be available and to be worthy of their trust by taking this noble action of rising in the House to speak. That is the first thing I wanted to say.
I am talking about Manicouagan in response to the Speech from the Throne because I did not hear much of anything in the House that was meaningful to me. Canada is certainly large; so is Quebec. The riding of Manicouagan is in the easternmost part of Quebec, next to Labrador, and is 250,000 square kilometres in size. It is an immense riding. We refer to it as a region both in French and in English.
When I come to the House to represent my constituents, I bring their fears with me. I would have liked to see those fears dissipated in the Speech from the Throne, which makes no mention of the word “region”. I could provide a number of examples.
This morning, the hon. member for Mount Royal talked about infrastructure, something that everyone is interested in. Infrastructure is a big part of the Liberal plan, and we are curious to see what will come of it. When I hear someone talk about a stretch of highway or a road that they would like to see built to stimulate the economy or add to the economy, I can certainly understand what they are talking about. However, with a riding like mine where there is 1,600 km of coastline and where 600 km is not covered by a road, I get inspired to rise in the House to represent the constituents.
I agree that improvements could be made everywhere. However, when we talk about economic stimulus or an economic plan, and this may be how the government feels as well, I would like to see one road from coast to coast. There could be one.
This is important to my constituents, who have to travel 600 kilometres to access health care or who are virtually stuck inside during the winter.
In my riding we have the White Trail. I do not know if people know what that is. It is a trail for snowmobiles. The only way to get around in my riding is to travel 600 kilometres by snowmobile. These people do not have access to some services or to democracy, in a way. It is unrealistic to have riding offices that cover my entire riding.
I wanted to talk about this notion of region, because we too often talk about what the economic benefits will be for Canada. However, when discussing development, we must also be daring. I do not know what is in the Liberal government's plan in that regard.
At this time in the House, I see from their faces that some people are being disrespectful, and that makes me sad. However, I will continue my speech about the 600-kilometre trail. I invite these members to travel on the White Trail.
I would also like to have talked about democratic reform, which was also touched on in the Conservative government's speech. My colleague from Montcalm mentioned it earlier. As a member of a political party, if I were to talk about just one principle, I would talk about the representation of ideas. We talked about debating ideas. The Speaker often talks about it; in this place we discuss ideas. One party can talk about democratic reform and representation if it wants to, because I believe that all ideas can be presented to the House and that we must have the same means.
As the representative of a riding or region, I believe that my constituents should have the same rights as all other Canadians. Just because one party, such as ours or that of the Leader of the Green Party, is not recognized, whether or not it is separatist, that does not mean that limits can be placed on its rights, its powers, and the means at its disposal to equitably represent the electorate.