Madam Speaker, I would say, like my colleague, that it is quite fascinating to hear the questions from the members opposite.
In politics, especially here, in this House, I have to say that we see some rather amazing things. Politics is the art of managing our collective affairs, of organizing the ties that bind us together.
I notice that, sometimes, politics here is not really an art. The government sees that it has spent way too much money, that it has not taken good care of the nation's finances, and then it decides to try to eliminate the deficit. But when I say that politics is easy for the federal government, the only thing it has to do is to tell the provinces that they cost too much and that it will cut their transfer payments.
As a matter of fact, that does not come from me. The Prime Minister himself, when he was in France, said how easy it was in Canada to balance the budget simply by making cuts in transfer payments.
I know that a lot of people are not really familiar with politics, transfer payments or areas under provincial jurisdiction. About four years ago, I was one of them. Sometimes, when people watch the news and hear sovereignists say “no, this is an area under provincial jurisdiction”, it may seem somewhat difficult to understand.
But it is so simple and, at the same time, it shows us how difficult it is to run a machine like this government, because there are two governments that are competing not only in terms of programs, as my colleague from Rosemont was saying earlier, but also in the pursuit of fiscal balance.
When people ask what Quebec wants, all we want in the end is efficiency. I hope that when my constituents pay a tax dollar that it produces the best in services and in solidarity.
I know that a huge percentage of my tax dollar does not come back to the provinces. We know that it is within the provinces' jurisdiction to provide services directly to the public: health care, education and a social fabric.
So it is regrettable to see voters often criticizing the provincial governments. But we have to understand them. We have to see where that is coming from. It comes from here.
I have used up my time, but I will be back.