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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 258

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 29, 2023 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 258 - Nov/29/23
Mr. Sébastien Lemire (Abitibi—Témiscamingue, BQ)
  • Nov/29/23 6:00:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to pick up on something intriguing my colleague said. He said that Ottawa, which collects half of our taxes, could reinvest a portion of that money in stimulating regional agricultural development. For example, it could invest in abattoirs, which are few and far between right now. The rules say that abattoirs cannot get more that 50% in public money because they are not money-makers in the regions, supposedly. At the same time, if I understand my colleague from Berthier-Maskinongé's brilliant reasoning correctly, he is saying that, if this infrastructure were to be built, it would be much like an investment in an aqueduct or other public spending of that nature in that it would stimulate an entire regional ecosystem. It would stimulate the vitality of our towns and the livelihood of our corner stores because people would live in the area. The federal government could invest money—our money—in our abattoirs, in our regions, instead of spending money to transport our livestock 800 kilometres away to be slaughtered. That impacts the quality of the meat, the environment and animal health. We could do it close to home instead. I would really like to hear my colleague's thoughts on that.
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