Mr. Speaker, Jean Charest and finance minister Séguin did indeed look very happy yesterday.
While the federal government is accumulating surpluses in order to invade the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces, it is refusing to put the money from those surpluses into equalization, a federal program, where it is needed.
Will the Prime Minister admit that he would be much better advised to use these surpluses to ease the fiscal imbalance faced by Quebec and the provinces, rather than in areas not in his jurisdiction?