Madam Speaker, it is appropriate to congratulate you on your new appointment. I know you will do a very good job on behalf of the House.
In the few moments I have I could not possibly respond to all the points the member has raised. This is the member who proposed to the House that MPs' salaries be increased from $64,400 a year to $125,000 a year to make it fair. That says a lot about the quality of the contribution the member has made to the House.
The member referred to the Canada health and social transfer. I will deal with that since he was quite critical of the concept. As the member knows, the federal government transfers on behalf of post-secondary education, health and under the Canada assistance plan for health and welfare. That consists of tax points and cash.
There were circumstances under which the cash component was being reduced to the point it would shortly be eliminated in a couple of provinces. In response the government combined the transfers into block funding so there would be a cash component available for some time until other arrangements and permanent cash positions could be established.
As a very simple example, here is an instance in which the member has been critical of the government for making a move which allows the federal government to have an opportunity to enforce national standards, particularly on important issues such as the health care of all Canadians.
Here is a member who has been a proponent of a flat tax. He has no specific proposals but knows very well that according to his proposals a flat tax may be more simple but the only aspect of simplicity is that it simply transfers the tax burden from high income earners like him to low income Canadians. That is what the member is after. He is after a shift of the burden to low and middle income Canadians. I believe the member has shown very well to the House exactly what he stands for.