Mr. Speaker, I have a question for my colleague. There is talk of cuts and transfers to the provinces. Personally, I wonder where these transfers are.
Since the cuts to employment insurance, hundreds of people no longer qualify for benefits. In New Brunswick, Minister Marcelle Mersereau said she had been forced to allow welfare recipients to participate in special programs so they could accumulate enough hours to become eligible for employment insurance. So there were a number of transfers that did not really help.
If we look at what is happening in hospitals, at the health care situation, we have trouble keeping doctors. In the hospitals, we find our parents parked in corridors. That kind of thing would never have happened in the past, but it is now a common occurrence.
I can even give you an example. In the Bathurst area, in my riding, hospitals are forced to charge for parking, which used to be free, so they can afford to buy new equipment. That proves the transfers are not there. In 1979, the federal government paid 50% of hospital or health care expenditures; this figure is now down to about 15%. You have a long way to go before you can make transfer payments that could help support people in the health care field.
The question I would like to ask my colleague concerns the banks. Why is the government not making a decision today, particularly since the Minister of Finance clearly expressed his surprise at the announcement that the Royal Bank and the Bank of Montreal would merge? When he unexpectedly found out about it, he said, as I understand it, that he would give his approval only if the banks looked after the interests of Canadians and if no one lost their job. The banks said that they could not give such a guarantee, that some employees would lose their jobs.
How can a government like this one, which has some responsibility, allow such a merger and not take a stand right away instead of waiting until September? Is the country run by the Minister of Finance alone or by all 158 democratically elected Liberal members? Have they nothing to say on the matter, because I am sure there are people in their regions who are concerned about all these big mergers that will hurt Canadians?
It is not up to the Royal Bank and the Bank of Montreal to run this country. It is up to the government to do the job and to assume its responsibilities.