I will make the question very brief to the hon. parliamentary secretary.
First, have the billions and billions of dollars spent on programs for regional development in the maritimes and the dozens of programs helped the maritimes to the extent that they are equal with other provinces in Canada in terms of their economy?
The second is a comment made by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry earlier that Alberta and B.C. had given over $100 billion more than they had received from the coffers into the federal government coffers. In fact the figure should be between $100 and $160 billion in Alberta. Does the member think that Albertans are willing to give more?
Finally, I would like a response to this very brief quote: "A reliance on granterpreneurship as opposed to entrepreneurship has fostered artificial local competition and created distortions in local markets".