I've repeated it 100 times and I'm going to look you in the eye, tonight, Mr. Couillard: there will be no referendum as long as Quebecers aren't ready.

I've repeated it 100 times and I'm going to look you in the eye, tonight, Mr. Couillard: there will be no referendum as long as Quebecers aren't ready.

I belong to a generation that had so many choices available. In 1970, when [former premier Robert] Bourassa launched the James Bay development project, nobody in Quebec asked whether we had the means to do it. Today could we launch another James Bay? Imagine the debates we'd have? We were a young, rich society with almost no debt. The generation that comes after us, and which will lead Quebec, must also have choices. And for that, they'll need financial manoeuvring room.

Quebecers are happy in Canada. We are benefiting economically and fiscally from belonging to Canada. We're proud of being Canadian. It's a great country. Everybody on Earth envies our Canadian citizenship.

Not only in Canada but in other countries where we have to rely on immigration for our growth, the question of coexistence of values in communities is important. It has to be dealt with.

Quebec's financial situation is serious. In terms of intensity, we're close to matching 1982 and 1997. We won't do the same things this time, but the problems we face today are about as pressing.

I often repeat three numbers: 20-23-26. Quebec generates only 20 per cent of Canada's wealth; it represents 23 per cent of the population, but it does 26 per cent of government spending in Canada. That's incompatible with good financial health over the long term.