Mr. Speaker, the hon. member speaks of a separatist strategy. A person has to be from another planet to come out with such things. Or to be totally blinded by partisanship. It is totally ridiculous.
Is Jean Charest a Quebec separatist? Yet he agrees with the transfer of tax points. Why? Because, since 1995, we have been being tricked by this government. The first cuts made were to the Canada Health and Social Transfer for the funding of health and education.
It is still incredible for a statement to be made such as this: “In 1977, we transferred tax points and then found that the federal government was not getting any recognition”. What kind of government are we dealing with here? It expects recognition for giving taxpayers' money back to the same taxpayers to provide them with services.
The response and comment he should be making is that he would be proud to transfer more money to provide proper health care, by ensuring that investments in education and health, these two areas of jurisdiction that belong to Quebec and the provinces, are at a level to meet people's expectations. This is not the case at present.
The federal government ought not to be expecting recognition; what it needs is a sense of duty. It must acknowledge its duty to help the sick to receive proper care, and to help students receive the proper education to face the challenges of the 21st century. Those are the arguments it ought to be presenting us with, and no others.
In 1977, by the way, that was no gift the federal government was handing out. It was returning part of what it had literally swiped from the provinces as income tax, in part to fund the war effort. That is the reality. When it claims that tax points would not be advantageous for Quebec, why not even consider this possibility if it is not advantageous for Quebec? We have other things on our minds as well. The people over there cannot count. We can, and we have done our calculations.
In the years to come, personal income tax—what we are referring to is personal income tax point transfers—is going to experience an exponential curve, at a time when it is very likely that their political decisions might again result in massive cuts to transfer payments which are fundamental to Quebecers. They have been doing so since 1995. That is the real question.