Mr. Speaker, perhaps I can explain to the hon. member what was contained in last February's budget. We will have a combined transfer called the Canada health and social transfer which, yes, will be cut. It includes not only health care, but many other services.
Let us look at this in the proper context. For instance, in education, social programs and health, expenditures amount to about $100 billion in one year. Next year the cut will be in the neighbourhood of 3 per cent or slightly less. While it will be a challenge to manage this, we do believe that a less than 3 per cent cut is manageable.