I was in favour of Mr. Harper's policy on the fiscal imbalance. It reflected for the first time a certain reality for all the provinces with respect to their tax base. One of our economists at Queen's University, Thomas Courchesne, said that a number of provinces are not seeking new powers but money to exercise their current powers under the existing constitution. In my opinion, the fiscal imbalance issue is an integral part of the debate, namely, in terms of how we can avoid overlap and make some headway with a view to provincial autonomy, which is key to success.
On March 24th, 2010. See this statement in context.