Mr. Speaker, once again we have a situation where the Liberal government seems to be the only one who is right. It has a habit of presenting itself in that light.
I know that our daily agenda is very full. I would simply like to draw your attention to an article in today's issue of Le Devoir under the byline of Jean-Robert Sansfaçon. I will not read the complete article, just a little extract:
An entire day of discussions turns out to be pointless: the Prime Minister has not changed his decision to distribute $10 billion in equalization payments for this fiscal year. That is an increase of $800 million over the forecast in the last budget—that is agreed—but the amount is still almost $1 billion less than the $10.95 billion transferred in 2001-02.
For Quebec, this unilateral decision by Ottawa adds $400 million to the province's revenues this year but that is still less than two years ago and much less than the $2.8 billion in finance minister Yves Séguin's dream budget.
But considering Prime Minister Martin's priorities, most of which invade provincial jurisdictions--chances are very slim that anyone will convince the government that such a fiscal imbalance exists. In short, the September health agreement was likely the first and last manifestation of this mysterious asymmetrical federalism that some were so proud of just a month ago.
I do not have as much experience as others in this House, but it seems to me that the current Prime Minister's attitude is the same as that of the former prime minister—just take it or leave it.