Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his excellent speech. I believe he shone a light on something that was already well known, something that the Séguin report demonstrated in the early 2000s, namely the adverse effects of the federal system, with its encroachment on Quebec's areas of jurisdiction, particularly with regard to fiscal imbalance.
As a member of the Standing Committee on Science and Research, I can see this in concrete terms. Universities now have the opportunity to draw funding from two levels of government: the Quebec government and the federal government, which has established scholarships and created the Canada Foundation for Innovation to support infrastructure, particularly in higher education and research institutions.
I would like my colleague to explain to me what the outcome of all this is. The revenue raising capacity that the federal government has maintained over recent years is now bringing certain provinces, including Quebec, to their knees, and this presents us with very difficult choices that mean we have to accept certain conditions reluctantly.