Mr. Speaker, before asking my question, let me clarify.
In 1994, the Bloc Quebecois talked about tax points as protection against the terrible cuts the Minister of Finance wanted to make to the Canada health and social transfer.
In 1995, Mrs. Marois, then Quebec's finance minister, asked:
That the federal government withdraw from social program funding and that it transfer to Quebec the tax points used to pay for that funding.
In 1997, Quebec's minister of intergovernmental affairs said exactly the same thing:
Quebec will demand that its constitutional authority be respected, will seek to fully exercise that authority, will continue to denounce the federal government's interference, and will call for full financial compensation in the form of tax points.
Recently, even before Mr. Charest's tour through the rest of Canada, Mr. Landry said that he would fight this battle, because it made no sense that the health and education needs were in Quebec but the money was in Ottawa.
With all due respect for the member for Richmond—Arthabaska, we have been talking about tax points for a long time. Since Mr. Charest agrees with this proposal, and because he certainly still has very close ties with Mr. Charest, could the hon. member not convince him to throw his support behind the premier of Quebec, who is also calling for such a federal-provincial conference, and who will continue to call for the transfer of tax points in order to help right the fiscal imbalance that has existed, particularly in the last three years, between Quebec, the Canadian provinces and the federal government?