Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to hear the suggestion from our hon. colleague from the Canadian Alliance that the Liberal government has been biased all these years in the direction of favouring growth in Alberta rather than in other parts of the country. I take that as a compliment. I am not sure it is quite true but we certainly have not been against Alberta. As he has suggested, possibly the good policies of the federal government over the years, as well as a spot of oil, have helped Alberta make a certain progress.
However it is also true that there has been some catch up, that over the last 20 years to 30 years, or indeed since the second world war, in terms of per capital income, GDP or living standards, the have not provinces of the maritimes have caught up to a significant degree and are closer to the national average living standards than they were 20 years or 30 years ago.