Mr. Speaker, yes, I have a copy of that communiqué in front of me. In fact, the very quote that I have in front of me is the same quote that the member read into the record in the House.
The member said that I have been here for a long time. That is true. I have seen these kinds of federal-provincial fiscal arguments go back and forth over the years. The standard line from the federal government, when we make an argument that a province is getting less than it would be getting if a certain formula were preserved, is that less is more than it got the year before. All we ever get from the government, is how much more the province is getting. We never get any acknowledgement of the gap between the more that the provinces are getting and the even more that they would be getting if the federal government were to respect the formula, or the constitutional principle, or some previous agreement or whatever the case may be.
This is the standard form of avoiding the truth that we get from the federal government when it gets into this kind of pickle. In the very paragraph that the member read, it said:
—the Prime Minister agreed to take the necessary steps to ensure that no ceiling will apply to 1999-2000 fiscal year. Thereafter...the formula will apply, which allows the program to grow up to the rate of growth of GDP.
There is nothing in the bill which indicates that commitment will be kept. My understanding from a minister of finance is that the bill does not keep that commitment and also is not in keeping with the understanding that the ministers of finance had, that the base would not return to where it was before.
I think it is kind of typical that the member would stand up and say that because it is sort of standard federal government fare. Those members always talk about this or that going up but they are never prepared to at least be honest and say that it would have been higher had they kept their commitment. At least they could explain why they did not keep their commitment and why there is a gap between the more and the even more. No. All we get is talk about the more. It is easily done but it does not convince me.