Mr. Speaker, the law is not the issue. If the provinces could fine the federal government for every commitment it has broken, they could pay off their deficits.
The real issue here is the government's Neanderthal approach to federal-provincial relations. The government talks about ushering in a new era of flexible federalism. The reality is that a bankrupt federal government is attempting to use fines and threats to control provincial areas of jurisdiction.
The human resources minister attaches strings to manpower training funding and imposes fines on British Columbia. The Minister of Health does exactly the same things to Alberta.
Is this really the government's vision of federalism, federalism with strings attached, red tape federalism, federalism by threats, federalism by fines?