Madam Chair, I want to pursue a line of questioning that started a long time ago but has since dropped. It has to do with what happened in 1995 when the government arbitrarily cut spending on health care.
I want to remind the minister that at the time when the government cut spending, it did so without consultation with the provinces. It just went ahead and did it. The provinces obviously did not agree, but the provinces are charged with the responsibility of providing health care services to Canadians.
The reason I want to raise this is I want to make reference to the fact that recently the member for LaSalle—Émard went out west and wanted to talk about western alienation. He was wondering why we have western alienation in Canada today. I wonder if it might have something to do with the fact that the government arbitrarily withdrew from agreements with the provinces to provide what is arguably the most essential service the province could provide, which is health care. The federal government just pulled out and left the provinces holding the bag.
I wonder if the minister might understand how this contributes to a sense of western alienation. It is not just western alienation. It happens in Newfoundland as well. I wonder if she might understand how this leads to a situation where provinces are openly talking about collecting their own income tax. In that way they could ensure that they kept the money that was supposed to go to them for things like health care services. They would get that first, take it off the top and send the remainder to Ottawa.
I wonder if the minister, and also the former finance minister, understand that they in fact are responsible for helping create western alienation because they do not keep their deals with the provinces.