I hear the bravado from across the way. It is nice to have a little chutzpah, but the fact of the matter is their behaviour on this issue has changed the issue.
It is no longer some narrow technical argument about which complicated equalization formula is better. It is not a clash of various types of arithmetic and mathematics. That is past. The issue is now a character issue. It is a trust issue. It is an honesty issue.
It is an issue that goes directly to the government's integrity, or, as most Saskatchewan people now see it, the government's obvious lack of integrity. Saskatchewan has been used and abused on this issue. Saskatchewan has been taken for granted and so have the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
A very telling exchange with respect to the Atlantic accords just took place a few moments ago in the course of the question and answer period before I began my remarks.
One of the members on our side asked the government member who was speaking that if everything was so perfect, if the member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley had no valid reason for crossing the floor, if the government was doing everything right on equalization and the Atlantic accords, why then is there this flurry of activity for the government now trying to change the rules yet again? If the Conservatives have it so right, why are they still trying to change it? Why did they offer, with one minute to go on Tuesday night, some deathbed deal to try to keep the member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley from doing what he intended to do and cross the floor?
I think all members of this House have an enormous respect for the member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley and for the courage that he demonstrated on Tuesday night. It is clear that his constituents have a very huge regard for him. It is clear that the public and the media in Atlantic Canada are praising his actions.
What is equally clear is that there are observers and media commentators across this country who are praising the member, including in my province of Saskatchewan, where they are asking why there was not a Saskatchewan Conservative who was willing to demonstrate that kind of backbone.
The people of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan have been betrayed, and so have a great many other Canadians in many ways by this budget.
There is one common theme that underlies all of this concern. It is a sense among a great many Canadians that they have not been told the truth, a sense that they have been betrayed at the hands of a dishonest government. The depth of that feeling, which exists in this country today and which is growing, is something that the Conservatives will not be able to cap.