Mr. Speaker, the federal government has control over its cash transfers to the provinces and those are the transfers that were cut back in the last budget. These cuts total $650 million for Quebec. The federal government's own officials said so yesterday. They are the ones who brief the Minister of Finance and they should brief this government.
Why does the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs persist in denying the facts, if not to conceal from Quebec until after the referendum the true extent of Ottawa's cuts to social program funding? The shortfall will reach $650 million next year.