Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of common views among members of the official opposition, but I am equally annoyed and amused by the government referring again and again to the legislation that is before us as an insurance policy.
What the government is really asking is that we provide a kind of cover for its ineptitude and paralysis. It wants us to ensure that it does not face the pressure that is appropriate to bring to bear and that it should feel to deliver on that new equalization formula by April 1. In that sense, I suppose, it is asking us to provide an insurance policy for it to cover for its ineptitude.
I do not think parliamentarians should be asked almost six months in advance to let the government off the hook from getting the job done. It is an odd notion of an insurance policy but in terms of who is being insured, it is not Canadians who need a fair and equitable equalization formula. It is the government asking us to ensure that it does not face the embarrassment and the exposure of its own failure to fulfill the commitments that Canadians want and deserve with respect to an equalization formula that works for them.