Mr. Speaker, not only are Quebeckers not well served by one-size-fits-all federal programs, but they are also not well served when it comes to the budworm.
The government listens to Irving lobbyists far more than it does to Quebeckers. Irving had 31 meetings with government ministers and managed to secure $75 million to combat the budworm ravaging its forests in the Maritimes. Irving owns 4.5 million acres in New Brunswick. However, Quebec did not receive one cent to address this same epidemic affecting an area even larger than New Brunswick.
They allocated $75 million to the Maritimes—