Mr. Speaker, it is an absolute scandal that the separatists have chosen for their next galvanizing point the idea of tax points. This is the issue they feel will coalesce Quebecers against the federal government because they know the federal government would not move in that direction.
Why would the federal government not move in that direction? First, cash transfers are a way for the federal government to hold the provinces accountable under the Canada Health Act and other acts of parliament. Without the cash points, it would not have the leverage, and the Bloc Quebecois and the separatists know that.
The second reason is that in 1977 the federal government transferred tax points to the provinces, 13.5 percentage points of its personal income tax. It was therefore totally transparent to the tax paying public. The taxation power went to the province of Quebec, for example, and other provinces. The federal government relinquished that. It was totally in the context of health care and education. However, guess what, Mr. Speaker? The federal government does not get credit for that anymore because the provinces conveniently forget to include that in the transfers when they talk about federal transfers to the provinces for health care, education and social services.
Does the member think the federal government will make that mistake again? I think it was a mistake in 1977. We transferred all these tax points to be more responsive and to allow the provinces, which are closer to health care and education, to manage their affairs more directly. However the provinces conveniently forgot and continue to forget to include that in the transfers the federal government makes to the provinces, which now amount to about $15 billion a year.
I wonder whether the member opposite will confess and be honest with the House and Canadians that this is a separatist strategy, to coalesce around tax points which he knows the federal government will not relinquish again.