Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
The Prime Minister's letter to his provincial counterparts concerning the agenda of the first ministers' conference says this: "We will discuss, among other things, the realignment of the roles and responsibilities of our partnership in areas such as manpower training, federal spending powers, mining, forestry, and so on".
Are we to understand from the Prime Minister's letter that, for the federal government, partnership means that, as in the area of manpower training, Ottawa will set the national standards, guidelines or objectives and monitor the implementation of these standards, while the provinces will have to be content with administering the programs?