Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
With a panel of such excellent witnesses, it's hard to do justice to everything all at once, but let me focus my questioning for Premier Calvert.
Before the last election, in 2004 and 2005 the previous government of Canada made a number of adjustments to the equalization program that had the effect of providing Saskatchewan, in those two years, with a total of some $799 million in additional direct equalization benefits. We also increased federal transfers overall to an all-time record high, with another $100 billion in federal transfers booked to flow over the next 10 years.
In question period in the House of Commons today we were told that nothing in fact happened for Saskatchewan before February of 2006, and since then, we were told, Saskatchewan has never had it so good.
Mr. Premier, I would like to ask a number of questions, but let me start with two basic ones. First of all, what specifically was the promise made by Mr. Harper and the Conservative Party to Saskatchewan in dollar terms? We've heard a description of it in terms of the formula; I'd be interested to know what that formula change meant in dollar terms. How much was it worth, and where did that number come from? Who did the calculation of that particular number?
My second question is this. There is a claim circulating in Saskatchewan now that the 2007 federal budget provided Saskatchewan with some $878 million. Can you tell us where that number appears in the budget? Is it in fact all new money? What is it for? Is it annual funding every year, or a conglomerate of spending on several things over several years?