Mr. Chair, despite your decision, which I am not going to challenge, as you said yourself, I nevertheless hope to convince my colleagues that not being able to guarantee that the priorities of the provinces will be taken into account... this list would normally be taken into account. I hope that my colleagues will support this proposal. To give a concrete example, the City of Montreal can in no way afford to match these amounts. Mayor Miller of Toronto clearly stated that he cannot afford to meet federal demands. Much of that money simply is not there.
I think it would be a serious mistake not to accept the amendments proposed by the NDP, especially since it does not incur any new expense for the government. Try as they might, the Liberals won't find anything wrong with this clause. All we're saying is that we want the money to be delivered with no strings attached.
In closing, Mr. Chair, we would like our colleagues to support this proposal.