Mr. Speaker, by not restoring the transfer payments via the Canadian social transfer to their 1993 levels, the people whom the hon. member represents will be hard hit, because it is already experiencing problems with health care funding.
With the population growth that region is undergoing, the needs are becoming more and more urgent and pressing. The Minister of Finance has decided to keep the people of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon waiting once more, as he has for the past two and a half years.
It must not be forgotten that the surplus started two and a half years ago, and the Minister of Finance has managed so far to avoid any debate on its allocation, by concealing and disguising it, as he has again this year. We must not believe that the surplus will be $5 billion, as he has announced. It will be $12 billion instead, this year.
He could, therefore, have done far more to improve the health sector in the hon. member's riding and elsewhere, but has decided not to. At best, he is going to invest $2.5 billion, but over the next five years, so that will be $500 million yearly. This figure represents about 12% of annual requirements, according to the figures given by the provincial premiers and territorial leaders.