Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague opposite takes pleasure in using the Constitution whenever it suits him. This government has made a specialty of interfering in provincial jurisdictions, but when the time comes to take its leadership role, then it invokes the Constitution.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance see it as normal that the Canadian government collected $4.758 billion in fuel taxes, but only spent $119 million on roads? That is what I call fiscal imbalance. Am I right in thinking that the role of the central government is to distribute money to the provinces, not crumbs?
I would like to hear him on that. Does he find it normal that his government collects nearly $5 billion but gives back only $119 million to look after roads? Is that normal? Is that equitable? Or is it just a typically Liberal thing to do?