Mr. Speaker, certainly the federal government has to take responsibility and not just a part of the responsibility. It was the federal government's error. This was not a bill from the provinces to the federal government. This was a calculation of money that the federal government was going to provide. It has gone on for years. It is a systemic problem.
As I mentioned in my speech in quoting the premier of Manitoba, the money that was overpaid was not stuffed in a Swiss bank account. It was not used on frivolous things. The money was used specifically to provide social services, health care and education for the people of our province and the other provinces.
Under those circumstances, given that it was the federal government's error, given that the payment was actually less than the amount it had committed to pay and given the fact that the money was well spent, it unquestionably should be dropped. The federal government should make whatever corrections it has to make for the future but it should not even think about coming to the provinces and reducing our services even more.