Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member, with whom I have served on the House of Commons finance committee, for his question.
Only a Liberal could boast about replacing with a teaspoon what he has taken out of the transfers to the provinces with a backhoe. I do not know whether he expects me to thank him on behalf of Nova Scotia for the pittance that has been returned to transfers when so much has been taken from the provinces in such a draconian way. If he was expecting that, he will be disappointed.
In terms of some of the specific programs, he mentioned the Canada Foundation for Innovation. I agree with him that there have been some gains made by what the government has done through the Canada Foundation for Innovation and other granting institutions that focus on research and development and on, in some cases, commercialized technologies across Canada, university based. However when I am asking the government for a productivity agenda I am not simply looking for government spending on improving productivity and I think Canadians realize that there is more to be done.
The Liberal government tends to believe that everything can be solved through government spending. I would argue that while programs like the Canada Foundation for Innovation can help, we can also use tax reform, regulatory reform, and a re-prioritization of spending in other areas. It can be done. It is like walking and chewing gum at the same time. We can do both at the same time. I would urge the government to improve its hand-eye co-ordination and, instead of just spending money, try to improve the lot of Canadians through regulatory tax reform and other innovation to address that issue.
There is one other problem with the Canada Foundation for Innovation. The grants require matching grants from the provinces. As a result it actually discriminates against provinces that are in weaker fiscal positions. If education is a priority from the perspective of equality of opportunity, we would not want to see the Canada Foundation for Innovation actually create a greater downward spiral for provinces that are in less strong fiscal positions. I think there is a real risk that it would do that now. I feel quite strongly about that, coming from Nova Scotia, the cradle of higher education in Canada, and representing in my riding Acadia University, which is the most innovative undergraduate university in all of Canada and one of the most innovative universities in the entire world.