Louis Plamondon

Mr. Speaker, under the federal government, the Government of Quebec has to jump through more hoops to take care of sick people than Saudi Arabia does to fire on dissidents. That is what it has come to: the Liberal government will not give sick people an inch but lets barbarians take a mile.Will anyone in government start making sense, do as the Government of Quebec has asked, and restore health transfer increases?

Mr. Speaker, in Quebec, consumers whose credit card is stolen are liable for, at most, $50. That is the law. At the federal level, the credit card issuer can stipulate liability in the contract. If Bill C-29 passes, banks will have free rein to demand that clients pay back every penny spent by a credit card thief.Does the minister of high finance see the difference between being protected by the law and being at the mercy of the banks?

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration was so busy preparing for his sightseeing trip to Nigeria that he did not even know that asylum seekers in Plattsburgh were being given instructions on how to cross the border illegally.Rather than playing tourist, can the minister ensure that the safe third country agreement applies to all of our borders?The safe third country agreement needs to be enforced at Roxham Road and everywhere else along our border.

Mr. Speaker, the list of items prohibited on airplanes includes hair gel, water bottles, baby powder, and bath salts, but carrying a ceremonial knife is permitted. It is not permitted in the United States, but it is no problem in Canada.Will the minister do his homework, review the list of prohibited items and realize that a knife is more dangerous than baby powder?

Mr. Speaker, the minister does not seem to have read the report. The Transportation Safety Board was clear. The government is managing safety very poorly, and the oversight regime for federally regulated transportation companies falls short.In addition, the department is falling unbelievably behind on regulating companies. In short, the transportation safety problem is the department's fault. When will the Liberals stop playing with the safety of Quebeckers and Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, and so it is. VIA Rail would rather sign a $1.3-billion agreement with a German multinational than with a Quebec company, to purchase trains that will be used in Quebec. What a lump of coal.Workers in La Pocatière are being laid off, and they are popping champagne corks in Sacramento, where the cars are manufactured. How can the Prime Minister justify abandoning workers in La Pocatière and allowing VIA Rail to choose Siemens?

Mr. Speaker, this morning, even the Government of Quebec asked the Minister of Transport to settle down with his unacceptable Bill C-10.This minister, who has been bragging for weeks about the agreement between Quebec and Bombardier and the creation of centres of excellence, is about to sabotage that agreement and cause more job losses in the riding of his own colleague from Saint-Laurent.Does the minister realize that his closure motion is not only awful but also dangerous for the future of Quebec's aerospace industry?

Mr. Speaker, this government seems to have become the banks' lapdog. Bill C-29 makes it possible for banks to circumvent Quebec's consumer protection laws and the business practices they govern. This will set Quebec consumers back 45 years. The banks will be able to charge whatever they want with the blessing of this government, the same one that voted in favour of allowing banks to use tax havens.My question is for the 40 Liberal members from Quebec: who are they working for, the people or big banks?

Mr. Speaker, first off, I would like to point out that the Prime Minister has never risen in the House to answer a single question from the Bloc Québécois.This shows the Prime Minister's blatant lack of respect for the one million Quebeckers that we represent. That same attitude shows in his refusal to talk with Premier Couillard about Quebec's place in Canada.Will the Prime Minister apologize for his government's ongoing contempt for Quebec's legitimate concerns?

Mr. Speaker, 1,800 jobs have been lost at Aveos alone, because the federal government did not enforce its own law.Does the Minister of Transport want to modernize the Air Canada act to make it legal for the company to send aerospace jobs abroad?Does the minister realize that by not enforcing the law, the federal government was complicit in outsourcing Air Canada airplane maintenance to Hong Kong, Singapore, Tel Aviv, and Minnesota?

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-29 limits consumer rights in Quebec and restricts Quebec's societal choices.No need to rehash the debate when Quebec is unanimous: the National Assembly is against this bill, consumer protection groups are against it, the Chambre des notaires du Québec is against it, the Barreau du Québec is against it, and law professors are against it. That says it all. Only the banks and the Liberals are in favour of the bill.Why are the 40 Liberal members from Quebec serving the interests of the banks and not the interests of Quebeckers?

Mr. Speaker, we knew that Ottawa had hung our dairy producers out to dry in the free trade agreement with Europe. What we did not know, however, was that it would do the same to our rail industry.A government-owned company is awarding a $1-billion contract to one of Quebec's competitors.How can it explain that? I suppose the free trade agreement was poorly negotiated.Will the minister speak with officials at the Crown corporation to ensure that our workers are not the victims of their inability to negotiate for our people?

Mr. Speaker, the Quebec government builds our infrastructure, not Ottawa. The Canada-Quebec agreement is clear on this. Infrastructure is a provincial and municipal responsibility. However, Ottawa is trying to impose conditions on us, and the result is a tramway project in Quebec that has been stopped in its tracks. Our projects are going nowhere because Ottawa prefers to argue.Will the minister stop creating conflicts and send Quebec the infrastructure funding as a lump sum with no strings attached, as the Quebec government has asked?

Mr. Speaker, this morning the Bloc Québécois showed its goodwill by agreeing to the motion to appoint a committee on physician-assisted death.I have been here for 30 years. There have been a number of occasions when special committees were struck to address sensitive or ethical issues. This honourable chamber always sought to bring all political parties to these committees in order to achieve broader consensus. I respectfully ask the Leader of the Government to reconsider the membership of the committee and to talk it over with other leaders to allow a member of the Bloc Québécois to sit on the committee, without the right to vote. Is having the right to speak too much to ask?

Mr. Speaker, in April, the government promised Quebec that it would have a migrant triage plan within a week. In May, it told us that we would have to wait a few more weeks. At the end of July, it told us that the plan was almost ready. Today, there is still no plan, and Quebec is still waiting to be reimbursed nearly $100 million for social services expenses for last year alone.I will repeat my colleague's question: does anyone really have the authority to do anything on the immigration file?

Mr. Speaker, the group that the former government set up to review the Canada Transportation Act has submitted its report. This report, which was meant to map out the future of transportation in Canada, completely ignored the issues of rail safety and security, which Quebec cities are very concerned about. Will the government listen to Quebec cities and demand that rail companies provide real-time updates on what is going on in Quebec, and will it force these companies to stop using DOT-111 cars immediately?

Mr. Speaker, the infrastructure program launched in 2014 is not working in Quebec. Since Ottawa is interfering in the selection process and wants to approve each project, even if they fall under Quebec or municipal jurisdiction, nothing is moving forward and the negotiations are never-ending. We do not need a repeat of this fiasco, with more money.Does the government plan on following through on the Prime Minister's election promise and emulating the gas tax transfer, by making a block transfer, without conditions?

Mr. Speaker, instead of making grand statements, I invite the minister to reread the Canada-Quebec infrastructure agreement. It states that “Canada's role in any Project is limited to making a financial contribution, and that it will have no involvement in the implementation...or...operation. Canada is neither a decision-maker nor an administrator”.The minister's election announcement about Highway 19 is nothing but talk. Not even one centimetre of the highway will be built. Instead of arguing, the government should transfer the lump sum to Quebec.

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about Air Canada. Under the Air Canada act, the company is supposed to maintain its entire fleet here. Many of its 408 planes need heavy maintenance now.By changing the law, the minister is trading those guaranteed jobs for a hypothetical maintenance centre that might take care of 45 planes when they need to be refurbished in 10 years' time.Instead of reiterating that this is good news, will the minister enforce the existing law?

Mr. Speaker, I am quoting the report of the Transportation Safety Board. It says that the slow pace of implementing recommendations perpetuates safety risks. More than 60 recommendations are still outstanding, and a third are more than 20 years old. Ottawa is asleep at the wheel.What will it take to get the Minister of Transportation to stop playing with Canadians' safety?

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transport is so glad that Quebec is dropping its case against Air Canada, thereby sacrificing 1,800 Aveos workers on the pretext that Air Canada may create 1,000 C Series aircraft maintenance jobs within 10 years.What is clear here is the Air Canada Public Participation Act and the conditions governing its privatization, and most of all, the fact that Air Canada is not obeying that law.Instead of amending the law to make it easier to export our jobs to other countries, will the minister finally enforce the existing law?

Mr. Speaker, a month ago the Prime Minister attended a cocktail party with Chinese investors who wanted to move their projects forward by paying $1,500.This could continue today under Liberal legislation. Of course there will be a report, which will be made public with great pomp and circumstance, but otherwise, nothing will change. Rather than encouraging cynicism among the electorate, will the Minister of Democratic Institutions follow Quebec's example, put a $500 cap on political donations, and restore per-vote public subsidies to political parties?

Mr. Speaker, you invited members to an official smudging ceremony in the House this morning. This was a wonderful idea, but I am disappointed that 99% of this ceremony was in English and that there was no interpretation.I have been a member in this House for 35 years, and interpretation has always been available for important events or official ceremonies, or else the ceremony has been conducted in both official languages. There are francophone indigenous communities, like the Abenaki community, that could have participated in this ceremony along with the Algonquin people. This smudging ceremony could have then been in both official languages.In the future, I hope everyone remembers that there are two official languages here. In this country's history, the indigenous peoples were here first, then francophones were here for 200 years, and after that the anglophones arrived. Clearly, there is every reason to include French in our official ceremonies.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to add that this is the only democracy in the western world that has a double standard for members. We do not see this in any Canadian province or in any western democracy. It is time to address this injustice.

Mr. Speaker, on average, the 6,400 members of the Quebec convenience stores association pay $36,000 each in credit card transaction fees every year. Large retailers like Costco and Walmart no longer want to do business with Visa, whose transaction fees are too high. However, smaller retailers cannot afford to turn their backs on their customers. When will the minister lower the cap on the credit card transaction fees being charged to merchants, as was done in 28 European countries, where fees are as low as 0.5%?

Mr. Speaker, while Australia and 28 European countries have credit card transaction fees as low as 0.3% and 0.5%, Quebec's merchants have to pay between 1.5% and 4% in transaction fees when their clients use credit cards. On average, the 6,400 members of the Quebec convenience stores association pay $36,000 in annual fees.When will the minister impose a ceiling on the exorbitant credit card transaction fees being charged to merchants?

Mr. Speaker, the Canada-Quebec infrastructure agreement is very clear. Canada's role in infrastructure is to provide funding, and that's it.Quebec's public transit fund is short $200 million because increased ridership from the outskirts of Montreal was not taken into account.Rather than making announcements about Quebec highways, which do not fall under the federal government's jurisdiction, will the Minister of Infrastructure instead do his part and give Quebec the $200 million it needs?

Mr. Speaker, last Sunday on NBC, the Prime Minister said that he was ready to show some flexibility on supply management.With last week's news that he had hired an adviser who is in favour of abolishing supply management, dairy producers are extremely worried. I have two questions for the minister.What does showing flexibility on supply management mean, exactly?Can the government confirm that an adviser who is in favour of abolishing supply management was hired?

Mr. Speaker, the government is proposing to invest $22 billion in green infrastructure, including interprovincial transmission lines that it claims will reduce our dependence on coal.That description seems to have been written with Muskrat Falls in mind, a project that has been cobbled together to compete with Hydro-Québec.In addition to guaranteeing loans for this project, is the government also planning to provide direct funding for the disaster that is Muskrat Falls?

Mr. Speaker, VIA Rail would rather award a $1-billion contract to a German multinational than to a Quebec company.The Minister of Transport could have stood up for Quebec workers in three ways. He could have informed Bombardier of the Siemens bid, he could have included local economic spinoffs in the contract criteria, and he could have cancelled the bidding process and started over, but he did nothing. Will the minister tell VIA Rail that it must reconsider its decision and give Bombardier a chance to win this contract, or will he let VIA Rail announce on Friday that it is awarding the contract to Germany?

Mr. Speaker, the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec is calling on this government to protect our dairy industry from diafiltered milk imports. It urged the government to enforce the spirit and the letter of the cheese standards and to treat diafiltered milk as a dairy ingredient. The Fédération is joining the Union des producteurs agricoles and the Quebec National Assembly to protect our dairy producers.Will the government respect the Quebec consensus and enforce the letter of the existing regulations?

Mr. Speaker, Canadians' confidence in our institutions is largely based on the diligence of those who occupy the highest offices. Those individuals have a duty to be exemplary and above reproach. Auditor General Michael Ferguson lived up to that expectation right up until his death, which we were shocked and saddened to learn of today.On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I want to offer my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.Mr. Ferguson showed a great deal of respect for the French language. When he was appointed as Auditor General, he did not speak French, but he immediately committed to learning it. Just a year later, he kept that promise when, much to his credit, he delivered his first report in both official languages, demonstrating a very respectable knowledge of French. By so doing, he showed that he understood his responsibilities as Auditor General.Mr. Ferguson was also known for the quality of his work. He submitted comprehensive, targeted reports that were always relevant. The Bloc Québécois always had a very good relationship with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada and always appreciated Mr. Ferguson's attention to detail, objectivity and warmth.In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to leave Mr. Ferguson's family and friends with a quote by the great French author Alexandre Dumas, who said: Those whom we love and lose are no longer where they were before. They are now wherever we are.

Mr. Speaker, the Air Canada Public Participation Act, which the government wants to water down, was a promise made to Quebec in 1989. The legislator's intention was clear: to protect the jobs in Montreal. I know that because I was sitting in the government when that legislation was passed. At the time, it was the Quebec caucus of the government that fought to protect our aerospace industry.When will the 40 Liberal members from Quebec in this government stand up and defend Quebec's aerospace industry?

Mr. Speaker, under the federal government, the Government of Quebec has to jump through more hoops to take care of sick people than Saudi Arabia does to fire on dissidents. That is what it has come to: the Liberal government will not give sick people an inch but lets barbarians take a mile.Will anyone in government start making sense, do as the Government of Quebec has asked, and restore health transfer increases?

Mr. Speaker, the minister does not seem to have read the report. The Transportation Safety Board was clear. The government is managing safety very poorly, and the oversight regime for federally regulated transportation companies falls short.In addition, the department is falling unbelievably behind on regulating companies. In short, the transportation safety problem is the department's fault. When will the Liberals stop playing with the safety of Quebeckers and Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, this morning, even the Government of Quebec asked the Minister of Transport to settle down with his unacceptable Bill C-10.This minister, who has been bragging for weeks about the agreement between Quebec and Bombardier and the creation of centres of excellence, is about to sabotage that agreement and cause more job losses in the riding of his own colleague from Saint-Laurent.Does the minister realize that his closure motion is not only awful but also dangerous for the future of Quebec's aerospace industry?

Mr. Speaker, first off, I would like to point out that the Prime Minister has never risen in the House to answer a single question from the Bloc Québécois.This shows the Prime Minister's blatant lack of respect for the one million Quebeckers that we represent. That same attitude shows in his refusal to talk with Premier Couillard about Quebec's place in Canada.Will the Prime Minister apologize for his government's ongoing contempt for Quebec's legitimate concerns?

Mr. Speaker, the government is proposing to invest $22 billion in green infrastructure, including interprovincial transmission lines that it claims will reduce our dependence on coal.That description seems to have been written with Muskrat Falls in mind, a project that has been cobbled together to compete with Hydro-Québec.In addition to guaranteeing loans for this project, is the government also planning to provide direct funding for the disaster that is Muskrat Falls?

Mr. Speaker, while Australia and 28 European countries have credit card transaction fees as low as 0.3% and 0.5%, Quebec's merchants have to pay between 1.5% and 4% in transaction fees when their clients use credit cards. On average, the 6,400 members of the Quebec convenience stores association pay $36,000 in annual fees.When will the minister impose a ceiling on the exorbitant credit card transaction fees being charged to merchants?

Mr. Speaker, last Sunday on NBC, the Prime Minister said that he was ready to show some flexibility on supply management.With last week's news that he had hired an adviser who is in favour of abolishing supply management, dairy producers are extremely worried. I have two questions for the minister.What does showing flexibility on supply management mean, exactly?Can the government confirm that an adviser who is in favour of abolishing supply management was hired?

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-29 limits consumer rights in Quebec and restricts Quebec's societal choices.No need to rehash the debate when Quebec is unanimous: the National Assembly is against this bill, consumer protection groups are against it, the Chambre des notaires du Québec is against it, the Barreau du Québec is against it, and law professors are against it. That says it all. Only the banks and the Liberals are in favour of the bill.Why are the 40 Liberal members from Quebec serving the interests of the banks and not the interests of Quebeckers?

Mr. Speaker, the list of items prohibited on airplanes includes hair gel, water bottles, baby powder, and bath salts, but carrying a ceremonial knife is permitted. It is not permitted in the United States, but it is no problem in Canada.Will the minister do his homework, review the list of prohibited items and realize that a knife is more dangerous than baby powder?

Mr. Speaker, 1,800 jobs have been lost at Aveos alone, because the federal government did not enforce its own law.Does the Minister of Transport want to modernize the Air Canada act to make it legal for the company to send aerospace jobs abroad?Does the minister realize that by not enforcing the law, the federal government was complicit in outsourcing Air Canada airplane maintenance to Hong Kong, Singapore, Tel Aviv, and Minnesota?

Mr. Speaker, VIA Rail would rather award a $1-billion contract to a German multinational than to a Quebec company.The Minister of Transport could have stood up for Quebec workers in three ways. He could have informed Bombardier of the Siemens bid, he could have included local economic spinoffs in the contract criteria, and he could have cancelled the bidding process and started over, but he did nothing. Will the minister tell VIA Rail that it must reconsider its decision and give Bombardier a chance to win this contract, or will he let VIA Rail announce on Friday that it is awarding the contract to Germany?

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about Air Canada. Under the Air Canada act, the company is supposed to maintain its entire fleet here. Many of its 408 planes need heavy maintenance now.By changing the law, the minister is trading those guaranteed jobs for a hypothetical maintenance centre that might take care of 45 planes when they need to be refurbished in 10 years' time.Instead of reiterating that this is good news, will the minister enforce the existing law?

Mr. Speaker, the infrastructure program launched in 2014 is not working in Quebec. Since Ottawa is interfering in the selection process and wants to approve each project, even if they fall under Quebec or municipal jurisdiction, nothing is moving forward and the negotiations are never-ending. We do not need a repeat of this fiasco, with more money.Does the government plan on following through on the Prime Minister's election promise and emulating the gas tax transfer, by making a block transfer, without conditions?

Mr. Speaker, Canadians' confidence in our institutions is largely based on the diligence of those who occupy the highest offices. Those individuals have a duty to be exemplary and above reproach. Auditor General Michael Ferguson lived up to that expectation right up until his death, which we were shocked and saddened to learn of today.On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I want to offer my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.Mr. Ferguson showed a great deal of respect for the French language. When he was appointed as Auditor General, he did not speak French, but he immediately committed to learning it. Just a year later, he kept that promise when, much to his credit, he delivered his first report in both official languages, demonstrating a very respectable knowledge of French. By so doing, he showed that he understood his responsibilities as Auditor General.Mr. Ferguson was also known for the quality of his work. He submitted comprehensive, targeted reports that were always relevant. The Bloc Québécois always had a very good relationship with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada and always appreciated Mr. Ferguson's attention to detail, objectivity and warmth.In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to leave Mr. Ferguson's family and friends with a quote by the great French author Alexandre Dumas, who said: Those whom we love and lose are no longer where they were before. They are now wherever we are.

Mr. Speaker, I am quoting the report of the Transportation Safety Board. It says that the slow pace of implementing recommendations perpetuates safety risks. More than 60 recommendations are still outstanding, and a third are more than 20 years old. Ottawa is asleep at the wheel.What will it take to get the Minister of Transportation to stop playing with Canadians' safety?

Mr. Speaker, this morning the Bloc Québécois showed its goodwill by agreeing to the motion to appoint a committee on physician-assisted death.I have been here for 30 years. There have been a number of occasions when special committees were struck to address sensitive or ethical issues. This honourable chamber always sought to bring all political parties to these committees in order to achieve broader consensus. I respectfully ask the Leader of the Government to reconsider the membership of the committee and to talk it over with other leaders to allow a member of the Bloc Québécois to sit on the committee, without the right to vote. Is having the right to speak too much to ask?

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration was so busy preparing for his sightseeing trip to Nigeria that he did not even know that asylum seekers in Plattsburgh were being given instructions on how to cross the border illegally.Rather than playing tourist, can the minister ensure that the safe third country agreement applies to all of our borders?The safe third country agreement needs to be enforced at Roxham Road and everywhere else along our border.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transport is so glad that Quebec is dropping its case against Air Canada, thereby sacrificing 1,800 Aveos workers on the pretext that Air Canada may create 1,000 C Series aircraft maintenance jobs within 10 years.What is clear here is the Air Canada Public Participation Act and the conditions governing its privatization, and most of all, the fact that Air Canada is not obeying that law.Instead of amending the law to make it easier to export our jobs to other countries, will the minister finally enforce the existing law?

Mr. Speaker, you invited members to an official smudging ceremony in the House this morning. This was a wonderful idea, but I am disappointed that 99% of this ceremony was in English and that there was no interpretation.I have been a member in this House for 35 years, and interpretation has always been available for important events or official ceremonies, or else the ceremony has been conducted in both official languages. There are francophone indigenous communities, like the Abenaki community, that could have participated in this ceremony along with the Algonquin people. This smudging ceremony could have then been in both official languages.In the future, I hope everyone remembers that there are two official languages here. In this country's history, the indigenous peoples were here first, then francophones were here for 200 years, and after that the anglophones arrived. Clearly, there is every reason to include French in our official ceremonies.

Mr. Speaker, in Quebec, consumers whose credit card is stolen are liable for, at most, $50. That is the law. At the federal level, the credit card issuer can stipulate liability in the contract. If Bill C-29 passes, banks will have free rein to demand that clients pay back every penny spent by a credit card thief.Does the minister of high finance see the difference between being protected by the law and being at the mercy of the banks?

Mr. Speaker, instead of making grand statements, I invite the minister to reread the Canada-Quebec infrastructure agreement. It states that “Canada's role in any Project is limited to making a financial contribution, and that it will have no involvement in the implementation...or...operation. Canada is neither a decision-maker nor an administrator”.The minister's election announcement about Highway 19 is nothing but talk. Not even one centimetre of the highway will be built. Instead of arguing, the government should transfer the lump sum to Quebec.

Mr. Speaker, a month ago the Prime Minister attended a cocktail party with Chinese investors who wanted to move their projects forward by paying $1,500.This could continue today under Liberal legislation. Of course there will be a report, which will be made public with great pomp and circumstance, but otherwise, nothing will change. Rather than encouraging cynicism among the electorate, will the Minister of Democratic Institutions follow Quebec's example, put a $500 cap on political donations, and restore per-vote public subsidies to political parties?

Mr. Speaker, in April, the government promised Quebec that it would have a migrant triage plan within a week. In May, it told us that we would have to wait a few more weeks. At the end of July, it told us that the plan was almost ready. Today, there is still no plan, and Quebec is still waiting to be reimbursed nearly $100 million for social services expenses for last year alone.I will repeat my colleague's question: does anyone really have the authority to do anything on the immigration file?

Mr. Speaker, this government seems to have become the banks' lapdog. Bill C-29 makes it possible for banks to circumvent Quebec's consumer protection laws and the business practices they govern. This will set Quebec consumers back 45 years. The banks will be able to charge whatever they want with the blessing of this government, the same one that voted in favour of allowing banks to use tax havens.My question is for the 40 Liberal members from Quebec: who are they working for, the people or big banks?

Mr. Speaker, the Quebec government builds our infrastructure, not Ottawa. The Canada-Quebec agreement is clear on this. Infrastructure is a provincial and municipal responsibility. However, Ottawa is trying to impose conditions on us, and the result is a tramway project in Quebec that has been stopped in its tracks. Our projects are going nowhere because Ottawa prefers to argue.Will the minister stop creating conflicts and send Quebec the infrastructure funding as a lump sum with no strings attached, as the Quebec government has asked?

Mr. Speaker, the group that the former government set up to review the Canada Transportation Act has submitted its report. This report, which was meant to map out the future of transportation in Canada, completely ignored the issues of rail safety and security, which Quebec cities are very concerned about. Will the government listen to Quebec cities and demand that rail companies provide real-time updates on what is going on in Quebec, and will it force these companies to stop using DOT-111 cars immediately?

Mr. Speaker, we knew that Ottawa had hung our dairy producers out to dry in the free trade agreement with Europe. What we did not know, however, was that it would do the same to our rail industry.A government-owned company is awarding a $1-billion contract to one of Quebec's competitors.How can it explain that? I suppose the free trade agreement was poorly negotiated.Will the minister speak with officials at the Crown corporation to ensure that our workers are not the victims of their inability to negotiate for our people?

Mr. Speaker, the Canada-Quebec infrastructure agreement is very clear. Canada's role in infrastructure is to provide funding, and that's it.Quebec's public transit fund is short $200 million because increased ridership from the outskirts of Montreal was not taken into account.Rather than making announcements about Quebec highways, which do not fall under the federal government's jurisdiction, will the Minister of Infrastructure instead do his part and give Quebec the $200 million it needs?

Mr. Speaker, on average, the 6,400 members of the Quebec convenience stores association pay $36,000 each in credit card transaction fees every year. Large retailers like Costco and Walmart no longer want to do business with Visa, whose transaction fees are too high. However, smaller retailers cannot afford to turn their backs on their customers. When will the minister lower the cap on the credit card transaction fees being charged to merchants, as was done in 28 European countries, where fees are as low as 0.5%?

Mr. Speaker, the Air Canada Public Participation Act, which the government wants to water down, was a promise made to Quebec in 1989. The legislator's intention was clear: to protect the jobs in Montreal. I know that because I was sitting in the government when that legislation was passed. At the time, it was the Quebec caucus of the government that fought to protect our aerospace industry.When will the 40 Liberal members from Quebec in this government stand up and defend Quebec's aerospace industry?