Mr. Speaker, the statements by the finance minister concerning Reform's budget are false.
This is not an academic matter. The finance minister will recall that his predecessor, Michael Wilson, in the late 1980s attempted to reduce federal taxes and managed to do that in a couple of years. However, the provinces, particularly the Liberal provincial government in Ontario, increased provincial taxes to sop up the tax relief granted by the federal government, and the taxpayers never saw any of it. Now people are afraid the same thing will happen in reverse.
I ask the minister again for a yes or no answer. Will he enter into a federal-provincial tax relief agreement to ensure that tax relief given by one level of government is not taken away by another level of government?