Mr. Speaker, in the opinion of the member then, $3.3 billion is really not material enough for the auditor general or the Government of Canada to be concerned with. I do not agree with him.
I am pleased that the member finally agrees that 14% of Canada's health care costs is not the right number with regard to Canada's funding. He admitted that research funding is part of it. He ducked the question on the tax points. He ducked the aboriginal health issue and he is ducking everything else.
I do not speak on behalf of the Government of Canada. I am here as a member of parliament. In fact, I am a member of parliament from Ontario, a province that was the recipient of a $2.8 billion overpayment. Should I come here and say that because it is my province I will fight to make sure it can keep the money and the hell with the rest of Canada? No.
I believe in the principle that if an inadvertent error was made, that there was no intent, it was just a computer mistake that happened, we should seek to correct the situation as much as possible and put the parties back in the positions they would have been in had the error not occurred.
I also understand that when we are talking about this amount of money we cannot be draconian about it and say that we want the cheque today plus interest because it does affect the government's operations and cash flow requirements. That is why I am glad the government, upon verifying the numbers, was immediately in discussions with the affected provinces to work out the appropriate resolution. Keep in mind that if we were to write this off and say that the government blew it, too bad, it has to eat it, it would set a terrible precedent that would be a long term detriment to the federal government.
For those reasons, this member of parliament will be opposing the motion.