Mr. Speaker, since the federal-provincial finance ministers' conference, we know that Ottawa will make drastic cuts in transfer payments to the provinces while deferring the impact of these cuts until next year. The federal government is trying to pass off as renewed federalism what will amount in fact to offloading its financial responsibilities.
My question is for the Prime Minister. Are we to understand that his government chose deliberately to defer the substantial cuts in transfer payments until after the Quebec referendum in order to hide from Quebecers, on the eve of the referendum, the cost of the federal government's financial withdrawal from education and health? In other words, that the federal government is holding back but will hit as soon as the referendum is over?