Madam Speaker, I have listened to the hon. Conservative member's arguments concerning equalization. As a former municipal councillor, I can say that equalization operates the same way when it comes from the federal government. The federal government sends money to the provincial government—when it does—and equalization is calculated the same way by the provincial government when it sends it on to the municipalities. So, if the provincial government does not receive any money from the federal government, the municipalities do not get any either.
I also listened to the hon. member talking about health. In 1970 the federal government funded about 50% of health care. It has been declining ever since. The federal government boasts that it is giving the fine sum of $41 billion. But 16% is rather far from the 25% that was received prior to the Liberal Party's taking office.
The hon. member also said that what they paid on the debt was truly frightening. They stole $45 billion from the unemployed, but that was not a problem, because they paid off the deficit.
He also said that if things were going all that badly in the municipalities, one solution would be to raise taxes. Whether municipal taxes are paid out of the right pocket, the provincial taxes out of the left and the federal from the wallet, there is still only one taxpayer. When there are crises like that of the mad cow, when people are losing their farms and everything, it is a bit hard to raise tax rates.
The Liberal member asked what mark I would give him on his report card. I would give him an F and if there were an F -minus, that is what I would give him.
That is why, if I were in the Liberals' shoes, I would not be boasting about my wonderful performance—that is just too tough to take.