Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I note in the estimates a crown share adjustment program for the Province of Nova Scotia, and it was determined by a panel that Nova Scotia would receive roughly just over $234 million. My understanding from the Library of Parliament is that that extends from the agreement under the national energy program.
It leads me into a question I'd love to get the answer to, and it deals with offset payments. I'm very curious. How is it, in a country where we have a system of equalization, that we also have offset payments that are separate from equalization but seem to also cloud the issue of equalization? I'm very curious as to why, for example, Newfoundland is receiving an offset payment when they exceed the fiscal cap of Ontario. How was that agreement struck, and why is there so much open-ended interpretation of what that means?