Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague a rather technical question. Earlier, he compared the European system to the Canadian one. I would like him to tell us more about that. Is the existing European model similar to the Canadian passport system, or is it more centralized?

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my two Bloc colleagues in the front row for their speeches. I thought they were very long on substance but still kept closely to the subject. That is not always the case on the other side of the House, in any event from what I have heard. It seems to me that we always hear the same thing from the Bloc Québécois.

The Budget  I do not believe, Mr. Speaker, that our party has any lessons to take from the NDP on the subject of adherence to principle. I have seen the NDP Party vote against principles it claims to embrace, whether it be the principles under GERD, the Kelowna accord or the child care agreements that the previous Liberal government signed with the provinces.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, first, concepts like gas tax transfers, making them permanent, and money for infrastructure for communities and cities are all Liberal concepts. The government is operating within the framework of Liberal ideas because it has no ideas of its own. As the Globe and Mail has said, the policy cupboard is bare.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Mississauga—Erindale. The budget reminds us of a popular sitcom of the 1990s, the same one the Toronto Star referenced in its headline the morning after the budget was delivered, a headline that called the budget speech a show about nothing.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of questions for the hon. member. If I am not mistaken, there is $250 million in the budget to help the oil and gas industries experiment with carbon capture and sequestration technology. What I would like to know is why the government is paying for that.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I used to think that the members of the other party on the other side were simplistic and simple-minded, especially in economics, but what I have found is that they over complicate things, which I guess is a sign of muddled thinking. Two years ago and last year the government cut the GST in order to, the Conservatives say, stimulate spending in advance of a recession they did not know existed.

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, according to Statistics Canada, the average age of treatment plants in Quebec is the highest in the country, and this, of course, poses a threat to our streams. Moreover, as if the collapse of the Concorde overpass had not been a clear enough signal for this Conservative government, 62% of all bridges and overpasses in Quebec have exceeded their useful life.

Infrastructure  Mr. Speaker, the Quebec government does a lot for its infrastructures. Premier Charest just announced a plan of close to $3 billion for its highway infrastructure. The previous federal government was aware of the importance of municipal infrastructures, and it took action through the gas tax transfer.

Canadian Environmental Protection Act  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak this evening to Bill C-469, which arose from two or three sessions the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development held last spring—a committee of which I am a member. This bill is modelled on a private member's bill that I tabled shortly beforehand, Bill C-464, which shares the same objective as the Bloc bill.

Bulk Water  Mr. Speaker, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange has said that water is about to become commoditized and traded as a futures contract, along with pork bellies, oranges and lumber. Former Alberta premier Peter Loughheed has said he expects lobbying efforts from the United States aimed at prying bulk water out of Canada to intensify over the next decade.

Bulk Water  Mr. Speaker, “water was not exempted from NAFTA”. Who said that? The MP for Calgary East, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The problem started when prime minister Brian Mulroney removed from the last draft of the free trade agreement the exemption for water that had been included in earlier drafts, to the surprise of his international trade minister.

Senate Appointment Consultations Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my Bloc Québécois colleague for her eloquent speech. I learned a lot from listening to it. My question is theoretical because I share my party's reservations about this bill. Theoretically, an elected Senate would mean more elected representatives from Quebec in Ottawa.

Prebudget Consultations  Mr. Speaker, I am sitting right beside my colleague and I guess we could have a conversation between us. However, for the record, I would like to say that the hon. member mentioned that he is not a doctor nor an economist. I think he should receive an honorary doctorate in economics for the speech he gave.

Prebudget Consultations  Mr. Speaker, I would like the hon. member to comment on a couple of ideas. We hear a lot from the party opposite that we have to be disciplined and take the long view. As a matter of fact, the hon. member who got up a few minutes ago said that if we do not pay down the debt at an accelerated pace, we will be hurting future generations.