Mr. Speaker, according to the Auditor General, billions of dollars are lying dormant in private foundations set up by the federal government in order to encroach upon areas of provincial jurisdiction. We are also aware that millions more have been spent on propaganda in Quebec alone, not to mention a multitude of other needless expenditures.
Instead of making simplistic proposals, would the Minister of Finance not be better off cleaning up his own budgetary act and opening up a dialogue with the provinces, in order to solve the problem of fiscal imbalance for once and for all?