Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance should have read the premiers' letter explaining their press release. He might have understood what they were asking for.
When the government made cuts to curb its deficit, transfer payments to the provinces were the hardest hit and this had an impact on the health and education systems across Canada and Quebec.
Now that budget surpluses are being generated, why did the Prime Minister make the deliberate choice not to give back the money stolen from the provinces, preferring instead to use this money to try to go down in history as the first Canadian government leader to—