This is a kind of flip-flop we have here, Mr. Speaker. This is the very minister who said a few days ago that the conference board had no credibility whatsoever.
The minister, it must be said, is being a bit comical here. He knows very well that there is a tax imbalance and a sizeable one, but refuses to acknowledge it because the government has a hidden agenda.
Will the Minister of Finance at least be frank enough to admit that, if Ottawa insists on keeping the most profitable areas of taxation for itself and the billions of dollars they represent, its purpose in doing so is to encroach at will upon areas of jurisdiction belonging to Quebec and the provinces? That is what the real reason is.