Mr. Speaker, first and foremost the Canada act to which the member refers is a misnomer. This is not legislation. This is merely a proposal on the part of the Reform Party. If that party were very serious about it, it would introduce it as legislation, possibly as a private member's bill.
I would like to take the member to task slightly in his suggestion that the way to correct or to reform the equalization process is to treat all Canadians equally. The problem with that concept is that there is great disparity across the country. In fact Canadians do not have equality of opportunity either in terms of their resources or their industrial base.
The member suggested that 70% of Canada is have not because seven provinces are recipients of equalization payments and three are the actual ones that give out the equalization payments. This illustrates the weakness in the submission in the Canada act that the key is to treat everyone equally.
In fact, 70% of Canada does not quite describe the situation when the member was talking merely about provinces. The three have provinces probably account for 80% or 90% of the actual industrial and resource base of the country.
Would the member perhaps reconsider his approach to treating everyone equally and consider the disparity of opportunity that exists among Canadians rather than ignoring the inequalities among us all?