First of all, Mr. Speaker, surely with all her years of experience the hon. member knows that the negotiations are between the Government of Canada and the provinces. These are negotiations. This is not a one way street.
How can that member stand in her place and have the audacity to say that we have not been listening when the Prime Minister responded in February with the removal of the ceiling, something the provinces wanted? The Prime Minister responded. She is now asking why it is taking so long. We are not going to make this agreement on the back of an envelope, which I know some of the parties over there are good at doing. We do not do that. What we do is sit down and make sure we do it right, and we are going to do it right with the provinces.
This is an insurance policy. Presumably the member has house insurance. I assume she hopes she never has a fire, but she has an insurance policy just in case. We do not expect to have a problem, but in the meantime it is prudent to have this.
I do not know when the House is going to adjourn, but I can say that in the meantime the onus is on all members in the House to make sure the legislation is passed so that the provinces will be assured of receiving continual revenues in the unlikely event. Again I will point out that the minister is working with his counterparts in good faith. I know, whether it is Nova Scotia or Manitoba, that they are very interested in making sure that we continue to have this in place. We are negotiating in good faith. I do not expect any difficulties, but again, this is a contingency. Again let me say that I pointed out in my speech a number of the areas the government has responded to, including the ceiling issue.