Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for London West for her question because it gives me the opportunity to correct the exaggerated claims being made by the Government of Ontario.
We have gone to great lengths, we have taken great pain within the budget to make sure that it is fair and equitable and does not impact disproportionately on any single region of the country.
Ontario's share of the downsizing of the public service is in line with its share of the national population. We could go one step further. Nearly 161,000 jobs were created in Ontario last year. We are going to maintain this recovery with a good budget so we can create jobs in Ontario at the same level next year. That is why we acted the way we did.
The member has asked me to deal with the facts. Ontario's share of budgetary actions is in the same range as its current share of federal spending and it is actually less than its share of Canada's population. If Bob Rae wants to play politics, he can do it. However, he should stop playing politics with the facts because he will never get re-elected that way.