Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister just said is inaccurate. It is not true that the federal government cut proportionally more than the Quebec government did in its first budget, which cut 30 per cent. What it has done is reduce its deficit on the backs of the provinces. That is what the government did.
Yesterday, the Minister of Finance confirmed that the federal government intends to cut transfer payments to the provinces for social programs by 33 per cent over the next three years.
My question is for the Minister of Finance. How does the Minister of Finance explain the difference between his speech, which talks about an increase in transfers to the provinces for social programs, and his own budget figures, according to which payments to the provinces will be cut by more than a third?