Mr. Speaker, it is evident that the hon. member has not been following in a careful way what has been developing over the last several months.
As a consequence of the announcement of a new transfer program to the provinces, which will give them far more flexibility, the provincial premiers last summer set up the Council of Social Service Ministers to begin developing a common provincial approach. Once that was completed they would then sit down with us and undertake the negotiations. We welcomed that initiative. We thought it was a very positive way to proceed.
Unfortunately the British Columbia government sort of skipped out on that process, short-circuited it and decided unilaterally to do
something different without consulting their provincial colleagues, without staying within the process and therefore has created a problem.
As I said before, the law is the law. I find it exceedingly strange that when members of the Reform Party are constantly demanding in this House that we ensure that individuals live up to the spirit and the letter of the law, they do not want a province to live up to the spirit and letter of the law.