Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure of working on the finance committee with the hon. member. It is always fun to get into the debates and ask questions of witnesses when they come to our committee. I have a couple of questions for the hon. member.
She talked a little bit about this new federalism. The Prime Minister and the health minister with the collusion of the finance minister have altered our Constitution. By using the federal spending power, they have basically held a club over the heads of the premiers of the provinces and have thereby intruded into what is constitutionally a provincial jurisdiction.
Even though I say this somewhat reluctantly, I think it was probably only the premier of Quebec who had—what do you call it in French—the chutzpah to stand up against what the government is saying. Of course, Quebec got the money anyway so it did not really matter. The other premiers did not do this.
I have quite a concern about the federal government taxing the dickens out of us. We are overtaxed and we are talking here today about the budget. We are taxed like anything. Most families have noticed the tax pressure. The provinces have reduced tax room because of this. The federal government by taking all this money from us, really backs the provinces into a corner in terms of economic freedom of what they can do to manage the health care system. Then this government turns around and says “Okay, we are going to give you some of your money back but the condition is that it must be used only for health”. That is a straight violation of the Constitution of Canada. Most constitutional experts say that.
While I certainly share the concern of the member with respect to health and the funding of health, we know that this government by its reduction of the transfers to the provinces over the last number of years has made a substantial negative impact on the reduction of health care services for Canadians. The Liberals are now gingerly giving a little bit of it back and they say that is helping while at the same time they are breaking the Constitution.
I would sure like to hear the comments of the member on that particular subject.