Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc for his speech and have a question that has to do with the social union.
Actually it has to do with the health care expenditures the government made in the budget which were nowhere near what it took out. Nevertheless it did put some back in. It also has to do with the fact that Quebec did not sign the social union. I think the reason it refused to sign the social union was a good one. The reason it refused to sign was that the federal government refused to give up any of its authority which under the Constitution does not really belong to it.
The federal government keeps asserting its spending power and in so doing effectively blackmails the provinces into accepting money that initially comes from people in the provinces. If a province did not accept the money it would simply go to another province. We are in a situation where effectively the provinces have to accept the rules of the federal government or they will be denied money and will not be doing the job that they should be doing for their constituents.
Would my colleague from the Bloc agree with that analysis and that it is time for a more co-operative approach to dealing with programs like health care that fall into provincial jurisdiction?