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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 334

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 18, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 334 - Jun/18/24
Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie
  • Jun/18/24 6:01:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend from La Pointe-de-l'Île for his intervention. Yes, it is interference, and yes, it is a concern for provincially regulated financial institutions. Desjardins is subject to Quebec regulations. Representatives of Desjardins appeared before the committee and raised many serious concerns in their testimony. Federal governments of every political stripe always work for the big Bay Street banks at the expense of other players, such as credit unions or Desjardins. If the government had any respect for the federative nature of the country we are currently in, it would never dream of interfering like this. First, it should negotiate, and then it should coordinate. That is all we are asking the government to do, but it refuses to do it. It always comes down to John A. Macdonald's great dream of a legislative union rather than a federation. That had no support back then, and it has none today either. The compromise was a federation where each government, each assembly, was sovereign in its own jurisdictions. Rather than properly managing problems within its own jurisdictions, this government is trying to encroach on the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces. It is trying to boss them around and tell them what to do. It is trying to steal powers so it can turn the federation into a legislative union. It seems that Quebec, Quebec's specificity, no longer counts, even though the House has officially recognized Quebec as a nation. The government does not seem to be listening. That is unacceptable.
261 words
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