Mr. Speaker, the first ministers' conference begins tomorrow but, for some time already, we have been hearing comments from certain provinces regarding the content and the objectives of the meeting.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister clearly explained that, as far as he and his government are concerned, the conference will not be turned into another last-ditch attempt, where participants would work until they dropped to renew Canadian federalism.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss and to settle concrete issues. Canadians want their governments to co-operate together to create jobs, stimulate economic recovery and redefine social programs. This is the mandate the Prime Minister gave himself and we are convinced that he will succeed in fulfilling it.