OTTAWA (Staff) — When Quebeckers see federal efforts to promote Western Canadian diversification, they assume it’s at their expense, a Bloc QuŽbecois MP said last week.
“When you talk about western diversification, there is a danger that it will be done to the detriment of Quebec,” Yves Rocheleau told a Commons committee meeting.
Diversification efforts, including a change in grain transportation subsidies, will give western farmers an advantage, he told western diversification minister Lloyd Axworthy.
But Axworthy said the attempt to make it look like Quebec subsidizes the West all the time is false.
“The railway system in Western Canada makes a profit and that is used to subsidize the rail system in Quebec, which does not make money.”
Axworthy told the committee the Liberal government has changed the emphasis of its western diversification effort to concentrate on loans to small business in the region. The government is also encouraging more co-operation and a sharing of services and facilities among the four western provinces, both to save money and improve efficiency.
