Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to answer for the Minister of Transport. We used to sit very close together on this side of the House.
I would like to address the very serious comments made by the previous speaker. While I will not answer directly the specifics that she raised, which is obviously for the government to answer, I would like to raise in part what she is referring to and has something to do with her issue and that is the whole issue of economic equity in this country and the fact that we are a large and diverse country with large rural populations as well as urban populations. It must be indicated to Canadians in the budget that the government has a true concern for every region of this country. We in the north often feel we have been left out. I know many areas of the country feel that way, that there is a lot of attention on central Canada and not so much on other parts of the country. It will be extremely important that the minister show through this budget that the government wants to see fairness and equity in economic development in every part of this country, rural and urban.