Madam Speaker, for the past 18 months, the federal government has been trying to explain to the House what a flexible federal government is. It has also been trying to explain what the status quo is. I think that status quo means continuing with the same thing. Also, in trying to explain what a flexible government or what the status quo is, the federal government is doing exactly what it preaches in the cuts.
During the sessions of the regional commissions, federal and provincial Liberal members did not even have the courage to come to Quebec to explain what the status quo and a flexible government were. Had they done so, they would have told us that they were getting ready to make cuts in health, education and professional training programs.
Instead of making cuts in each province, the federal government decided to become a centralizing government and to cut provincial transfers. Because of these transfer cuts, the provinces are obliged to cut and transfer some responsibilities to municipal governments and also to bear the brunt of these cuts.
I would like to remind the minister who just spoke that the Quebec government pays $28 billion in taxes to Ottawa and sends $2 billion in GST, for a total of $30 billion. Including cuts, privatizations and closures, can the minister tell us how much money Quebec receives on the $30 billion that it sends to the federal government?