Mr. Speaker, the hon. member of the Opposition has presented me with a challenge in giving me some 30 to 45 seconds to talk about the role of governments and the elimination of overlap.
Consequently, I will only address the policy issues. There is no doubt in my mind that the government or public sector has grown too big in recent years and that it tried to provide too many services, a large number of which could have been provided more efficiently by the private sector. Our three levels of government-federal, provincial and municipal-must act more responsibly in fiscal matters and review all their services to the population so that we can finally offer the same quality of service for much less.
The division of responsibilities among the various levels of government is clearly something we need much more time to discuss, since it is a fundamental issue. However, I fully agree with the hon. member that we should reduce overlap as much as possible, as it is expensive and unnecessary.