Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for giving me extra time to explain what a malicious deed the setting up of the trust by the government really was.
We know that the federal government invested $3.5 billion in the last budget and gave the provinces the right to spend this over the following three years.
The governments also planned to inject some funds into the financial area, and Quebec had decided on a figure of $2 billion in investments. Initially, its plan was for $1.7 billion, plus an additional $300 million for health during fiscal 1999-2000 and 2000-2001.
The Government of Quebec made that investment. Instead of taking the $841 million from the fund—knowing that it will need this money for the next budget, investment in health being far from over, for all the reasons I have given—the Government of Quebec is going to have a surplus because the government made that investment. The Government of Quebec is going to draw upon the surplus instead of the trust fund, because what is in that fund will be needed for a long term health investment strategy.
I am not worried about how the Government of Quebec is going to spend that trust money. We know it will go for health, but a strategy is needed, and that is what the Government of Quebec is going to address. By taking the $841 million from the budget surplus, the Government of Quebec has made health a priority, rather than setting having a budget surplus as its priority, as this government has.