I want to start by saying that I find the conversation with the Liberal member here kind of puzzling, talking about cuts.
I grabbed the budget document from 2008, and there's a chart there talking about transfer payments. I note that in the last full year of the Liberal government, the cumulative transfer payments were about $35 billion. I think in 2008-09 they'll be just under $50 billion to discharge the things the provinces are accountable for. Going from $35 billion to $50 billion--I don't know how you can refer to that as cuts.
I did notice, Minister Skinner, that you mentioned transfers as one of the areas that could be addressed from the federal standpoint. Specifically, were you meaning that the federal government should perhaps be more prescriptive in terms of what transfer dollars should be spent on? Maybe you can elaborate on that a little bit.