Mr. Speaker, the remarks made by my colleague for Thunder Bay—Rainy River were very interesting. Nonetheless, I find it somewhat peculiar that someone so familiar with marine terminology can deny the existence of an imbalance. Maybe it is only a matter of vocabulary.
I am very familiar with the Thunder Bay area. This beautiful area in northwestern Ontario has a sea port. Maybe we have a hard time understanding each other because of the vocabulary. Some talk about financial pressures while others talk about fiscal imbalance.
If we look at the issue from a marine point of view and take the example of a large ship, it might be easier to understand. I think that the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River would understand the notion of imbalance if it suddenly happened on a ship. Fiscal imbalance is like having a surplus of $60 billion on port side. We agree, these figures are indisputable. On starboard, the provinces would show a combined deficit of $68 billion. In other words, on one side of the ship, there is a load of $60 billion, and, on the other side, a load of $68 billion. Even the Prime Minister, who is very familiar with marine terminology, could understand that this is not an exaggeration, but rather an imbalance.
If this is true for a ship, it could apply here. A ship with such an imbalance would not be able to follow a straight course, even a Canada Steamship Lines' ship--