Mr. Speaker, I am always very interested in what my Reform Party colleague has to say. She does her research well.
But I would like to draw to her attention a few of the concerns that sprang to mind as I was listening to her.
It is true that Quebec's share of equalization payments, aimed at evening out the ability of the various provinces to provide services for their people, has unfortunately dipped dramatically in recent years. But that is only one facet of the movement of money between Quebec and the other provinces and the central government here in Ottawa.
The other is the taxes paid to the central government and then used by it to purchase goods and services or to fund research and development.
It is a fact, and there are figures to prove it, that the government spends the lion's share of its dollars in Ontario, not in Quebec or in the prairies. It does not spend the lion's share of its dollars in the Atlantic provinces, but here in Ontario.
That leaves us with the paradoxical situation of Quebec sending approximately $30 billion every year to Ottawa and receiving $30 billion back. Unfortunately, while Quebec is forking over taxpayers' hard-earned dollars, its share of goods and services falls well short of its share of taxes, while Ontario's exceeds it by about 15%.
Then the transfer payments kick in to even things up. But now, and this is the question I put to my colleague, we have the sad situation where Quebec is not receiving job creation money, but transfer payments instead. The same is happening in the Atlantic provinces, and that is what is unfair. The only solution, obviously, is for Quebec to become a sovereign nation.