Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Mississauga went on for great lengths about the hostility of Canadians toward Ottawa and toward his government in particular. He seems to be mystified by this. If he would just listen to his own condescending bombast he would understand why the rest of Canada hates this place so much and why Canadians feel the way they do about Ottawa. He is the epitome of what is wrong. He almost turns me into a separatist when I listen to him.
The member spoke about the relationship between spending and responsibility. He used the analogy of youngsters leaving home and wanting to hang on to their allowance. I would submit that he has it completely reversed because what has happened in the relationships between this government and the provinces is that the Government of Canada entered into solemn agreements with the provinces. It was going to contribute 50% of the cost of health care and in return the federal government would have a very strong hand in managing and organizing the direction of Canadian health care. He who pays the piper calls the tune.
Now it has cut contributions down to roughly 11% or 12% of the total cost yet it still wants to keep its heavy hand on the provinces and control, control, control, and that is spelled L-i-b-e-r-a-l.