Mr. Speaker, on the eve of the Minister of Finance's economic update, it is as well to remember that, in the last throne speech, the government clearly indicated its intention to create new programs in areas such as education, the family and childhood, health, home care and pharmacare, all of them provincial jurisdictions.
Rather than spending its time fuelling arguments over jurisdiction, should this government's priority not be to restore transfer payments to the provinces so that they can assume their responsibilities toward the public?