Mr. Speaker, I have two questions to raise with the member for St. John's West. I also applaud him for recognizing that it was the premier of Nova Scotia, not of my political stripe but of his, who spearheaded a lot of the battle for a fair equalization formula. Our party has been very pleased to co-operate with that effort.
Could the member comment on the role and position of the former premier of his province of Newfoundland on the equalization formula? I remind all members of the House that when he made his decision to run in the last federal election, wrapped in the unity flag and all sorts of rhetoric about equality of opportunity, he said that one of the reasons he was running was that he wanted to see changes in the equalization formula and the removal of the cap.
Has the member for St. John's West been tracking what the current Minister of Industry has done to contribute to persuading the government to lift the artificial cap on the equalization formula?