And as my colleague says: "All from rich provinces".
I do not care where the money comes from. The fact is that Canadians expect there will be social programs in place. They may not be the same as they are today, but they want social programs and they want a voice in how those social programs will be shaped.
That brings me to the significant and important thing about this discussion. The Minister of Human Resources Development has produced a plan for discussion. He has invited Canadians to participate in this national debate to express to him and to one another what they think the social programs of the country should be like.
We are not going to have unanimity on the point. I know the hon. members of the Bloc do not agree with anything the government has put forward. They fulfil the traditional role of an opposition and that is, oppose, oppose, oppose. I can understand that. I am not surprised by that. On the other hand I would hope they would engage in a dialogue with the government and put forward their ideas on how the social programs of this country could be improved.
As for the Reform Party, it was refreshing to hear the hon. member for Elk Island. However I am sure that if his leader had heard all his remarks he would have been horrified by what he was saying. I know his leader would not have agreed with everything the hon. member for Elk Island said. I can only hope that the hon. member is here tomorrow. I am worried that he is going to be shut up and gagged.
What he said about the importance of this program spending on students was correct. I am sure that in an ideal world it would be wonderful if students could come out of university debt free. I do not think that is the case for many students today and I do not believe it will be the case tomorrow. I think the situation can only get worse, not better, at least for a while.
That is the fiscal reality we are going to have to face, notwithstanding the demonstration yesterday and notwithstanding the demagoguery of the hon. member for Roberval who was out there saying that students deserved free tuition and all that sort of nonsense. That was considered when I was a student in the sixties. It was not adopted by governments then and they had a lot more money to spend than governments have today. It is simply not a realistic approach to the tuition issue.
I did not want to get into that. I am prepared today to deal with unemployment insurance and I will stick with that.
The Reform Party must acknowledge that we cannot bring the deficit of the Government of Canada under control simply by eliminating social programs. If members of the Reform Party-