Mr. Speaker, the hon. member used a term that was quite relevant when he talked about the budget being a smoke and mirror budget.
I say that because I think about the very practical problems which could have been addressed in the budget, one being support for Halifax's bid for a piece of the pie with respect to becoming a superport. Here we are on the brink of making history. We stand at a point where we can benefit not only the Atlantic area but all of Canada by Halifax being properly supported to win the bid to handle the post-Panamax ships. Yet there is nothing in the budget that made any real commitment to that.
The closest I have seen was just the other day in an article in the paper saying that the federal minister promised support if metro won the bid. I do not feel that businessmen go on the if prospect. If there had been a firm commitment stating some amount that was reasonable and tangible—surely we have experts who can figure out exactly what it would cost for our port to be upgraded to handle these ships—we would stand a much better chance of gaining that bid. Other areas have done it. I think New York has put a price on what it would cost for it to fix up its harbour but we say we cannot do so.
Does the hon. member agree with me that the budget has been very deficient in nailing down concrete specific action which would encourage economic development not only in Atlantic Canada but right across the country?