Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has put forward a number of points of view about how he thinks the interests of his constituents, residents of his province and all Canadians would be better served by this type of review.
Normally when you deal with wholesale restructuring any institution, any group of programs, any fundamental policies you would normally start out with certain parameters in mind, certain givens.
I do not want to say sacred cows because there are no such things.
We heard from the Reform Party earlier that what it wants is to cut, cut, cut and it is not so terribly concerned about the impact of those cuts. I have listened intently to members of the Bloc Quebecois, who are not interested simply in cutting, that is not what they are saying. They want to build a better system to ensure that those individuals needing help the most get it.
I would like to ask the member if he could give me a few ideas as to the parameters that this review should take place in and what should be the starting point. What should be the givens as to what we are trying to attain.
Is it to make sure that income security for seniors is maintained? Is it to ensure that transfers to the provinces are maintained at a level that would allow the provinces to have services of equal quality no matter what the fiscal situation of the province is? Is it just to maintain transfers to provinces such as Quebec to administer provincial social assistance programs?
I just throw those ideas out. If he could give me some sense about what he would like to see maintained and built upon in this review it would be helpful to me.