Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Finance.
Let us talk about the GST. The Bloc Quebecois has submitted a proposal whereby arbitration would be used to resolve the deadlock that has arisen on the issue of the $2 billion in compensation for harmonizing the GST in Quebec. Yesterday, Bernard Landry officially reiterated that proposal to the Minister of Finance, but the minister again rejected arbitration.
Since this arbitration proposal does not cost anything to the federal government, and if the Minister of Finance is in fact right in his claims, why is the minister not jumping on this unique opportunity to prove that his federalism is fair?