Madam Speaker, one of the members yelled out that this information was incorrect. I am saying it nicely. The reality is that those are the facts. I know we are not allowed to use props but I have the listing of those reductions. The reality is that these are the facts.
It is funny that some people are entitled to an opinion but apparently we on this side are not entitled to give answers because those on the other side have all the answers.
What I said about the provinces apparently offended one of the members across the way. The member should check the record. The provinces have the same ability to tax as we do. They made decisions and we made decisions. We stand by our decisions and they can stand by theirs. We did not cut health care. We do not deliver health care. The provinces deliver health care.
Last year the government of Ontario announced $1.2 billion in funding for health care and $1.1 billion came from the federal government. The province happened to conveniently leave that out.
In terms of the government's commitment to health care that we made in September 2000, we make no apologies for that. We make no apologies at all as the provinces agreed to that at the time. Absolutely not.
The Minister of Finance stood in the House and talked about the reduction, talked about the savings of $160 million to employers and employees. That is not a trifle.