Mr. Speaker, I could not help but reply to the member's statement.
He compared the money that is being put into the tar sands in Alberta with the $87 million no interest loan to Bombardier. He said, basically: "Can you not see that we are doing as much for Alberta and as much for western Canada as we are for central Canada?" That is a slap in the face to people who live in Alberta and British Columbia and who suffered through the $80 billion rip-off by the government through the national energy program. It took the money that belonged to those provinces and walked away
with it for the benefit of central Canada and the federal government.
By throwing a few crumbs back into Alberta in the tar sands project and suggesting that in some way it is the benevolent government looking out for the best interests of Alberta, I frankly find that a bit of a slap in the face.
I do not forget things like that. There are a lot of people in western Canada who will never forget what the Liberal government did with the $80 billion rip-off under the national energy program. I will never forget that.