Mr. Speaker, this is an important issue for the House to be dealing with. I thank the member for moving the motion. In a nutshell the federal government overpaid four provincial governments about $3.3 billion with regard to moneys collected on their behalf.
The real question comes down to whether or not overpayments, errors, which occurred because people in good faith understood the information to be correct and it turned out subsequently not to be correct, should be recouped. It leads me to the fundamental legal premise that in legal proceedings when parties have a disagreement concerning matters, one of the premises is that they seek to put both parties in the position they would have been in had the matter been handled correctly the first time.
Arguments are now being made that, notwithstanding had it been done correctly, the $3.3 billion would have come back to the federal government. There are exacerbating factors or consequences for consideration to be given not to refund or possibly some other arrangement.