Mr. Chairman, I see that the minister is very eager to hear the explanation.
The member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve is spending a lot of time in law schools these days, which means that his legal and constitutional knowledge is really up to date. I know that the Minister of Health will appreciate the importance given to the legal profession by the member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve.
Of course, according to the division of powers, health is a provincial responsibility. The tool used by the federal government to interfere in the area of health care is the spending power.
Very recently, I had a most interesting conversation with Eugénie Brouillet, a doctoral student in constitutional law at Laval University who specializes in Canadian federalism. She explained to us how the spending power theory undermined the very principle of federalism because it prevented or removed any real separation between the various levels of government.
We know that a federation is defined by the distribution of powers among different levels of government. By introducing the spending power theory, the Canadian federation has undermined the very principle of federalism. As a result, Canadian federalism has lost many of the elements that are usually the trademark of a federation.
We could take other examples. The most recent is the social union agreement. It is the latest example of this distorted vision of Canadian federalism that the federal government has.