Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague in the Canadian Alliance and add my voice to his in questioning the new Minister of Finance.
This overpayment of billions of dollars is not the fault of the provinces. The error is the government's. I question the new Minister of Finance. He says he is giving serious thought to the situation. I call on him to do so quickly and to come to a decision, because this is a very serious matter.
The provinces are facing enormous problems in health care and education. The Minister of Finance is also responsible for infrastructures, and I think he should distance himself from the former Minister of Finance. He should say that they will not recover the overpayments from the provinces and that the government will establish a compensation mechanism to ensure fair treatment of all provinces.
This would be one way to say that he understands the situation, to admit that an overpayment was made and that it is not the fault of the provinces. He should give the provinces a shot of oxygen.
If the Minister of Finance did this, would my Alliance colleague agree to join with me in telling him it is a good thing to do and that this minister is reaching out to the provinces?