House debate  Mr. Speaker, in Quebec, we have an expression that applies to people who think they are someone they are not. My Conservative government colleague seems to think he is a member of cabinet, but he is not at all. My simple question for my colleague is, since he is not a member of cabinet, how could he possibly know what has been discussed in cabinet?

House debate  Mr. Speaker, this adjournment debate gives me an opportunity to go back to a question that I asked the government before the holidays. I would like to begin with a few comments for the member who just rebuffed our Bloc Québécois colleague. I have to say that it takes some nerve for someone who cannot speak a single word of French without reading a prepared statement to blame a member who is just doing his job by trying to defend the French language in Canada.

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance broke the rules and he admits it. He awarded a contract to a friend to write a lame speech on a bad budget. Even Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister of sponsorships, fired Art Eggleton for paying $36,000 for 14 pages. In this case we are talking about $122,000 for 20 pages.

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, the illicit contracting question went to a Conservative loyalist and long-time political organizer for the finance minister. We do know that Mr. MacPhie was not the finance minister's ex-girlfriend, but surely the Conservatives will want to be at least as ethical as the Liberals who are responsible for the sponsorship scandal.

Business of the House  Mr. Speaker, I will be brief. With respect to the same issue, last week in this House, in response to a question I asked, one of my colleagues, the member for Pontiac, said the following: —there is a process to follow for appropriating new amounts of money. This process is called a “budget”.

Manufacturing and Forestry Industries  Mr. Speaker, because of the support from the Bloc Québécois and the Liberals, the Conservative government is still free to use economic blackmail on the families of workers. Making the $1 billion conditional on the budget passing is an outrage. How come the big oil companies are getting cash, and the families of workers are getting blackmailed?

Manufacturing and Forestry Industries  Mr. Speaker, our question for the government is quite simple. Why is it when it comes time to give billions of dollars to its friends in the oil companies, it is cash on the barrelhead and when it comes time to give a little money to help working families in the forestry and manufacturing sectors who have lost their jobs, it is more and more blackmail?

Canadian Environmental Protection Act  Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity earlier, in a previous question, to congratulate my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé on his initiative, and I would like to begin by reiterating my congratulations. The bill is C-469, An Act to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (use of phosphorus).

Canadian Environmental Protection Act  Mr. Speaker, I would first like to thank my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé for presenting this bill dealing with a factor that could make a contribution—as minimal as it may be—to helping the environment. However, in this important matter, every step in the right direction is always welcome.

Canadian Environmental Protection Act  It is six of one and half a dozen of the other. Do the separatists believe that it is inconceivable that the federal government could intervene while respecting provincial jurisdictions, for example by introducing agreements? Are they not more inclined to agree with us that it is possible for the federal government to have a constructive role and also respect provincial jurisdictions?

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my leader to kindly explain to the House the adverse consequences of the Liberal and Bloc members supporting this bill. They have helped things progress today by voting with the Conservatives on these middle-class budget issues.

Hon. member for Westmount—Ville-Marie  Mr. Speaker, I would like to join my colleagues in wishing the member for Westmount—Ville-Marie all the very best in her future endeavours. I have had the honour and the pleasure of knowing her since she first arrived on the political scene. At the time, I was the president of the Office des professions du Québec.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague raised a very important point with regard to the abject hypocrisy of the Liberal Party of Canada because of course, if it believed for a second any of its stock speeches about helping people it would of course help us to unseat the Conservatives.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague from Yukon must face up to a small problem of logic. He rises in this House to ask the NDP if we think that Bill C-28, which has to do with budgetary issues, is flawed. I have good news for him. The NDP does in fact believe that Bill C-28 is full of flaws.

Budget and Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2007  Mr. Speaker, my colleague is quite right. In putting all of its emphasis on tax reductions for large corporations, the government has failed to realize that a lot of people are going to be left out. It is not a figure of speech to talk about a prosperity gap in Canada. If we look at the most recent statistics published by the most neutral source available in this country, Statistics Canada, and we divide income into five brackets, those are called quintiles, we will notice that it is the middle quintiles, literally the middle class, that has been the hardest hit in the past 20 years.