Mr. Speaker, the member is very conscientious and looks at things very reasonably. He has really put his finger on the dilemma that we face in this country.
I say to the hon. member that even though we use the word equalization, and the bill is about equalization, he knows as well as I do that the provinces, particularly when we speak in fiscal terms, are certainly not equal. Perhaps they never will be. Some have more than others. That is why we have a central government that tries somewhat to equalize at least to some degree some of the opportunities and abilities.
Back in the 1930s when Alberta was going through an extremely rough time with farming, people from the east, from Nova Scotia, from Newfoundland, sent salt fish out so that people would have something to eat. Times were pretty tough. Things have turned around. Alberta is now the richest province in the country. It is contributing significantly to the funds that go to the have not provinces, if we can refer to them as such, and many of them are not.
Other provinces have resources. Let us look at Ontario, the pride of my friend from Scarborough—Guildwood. If tomorrow some of the major car manufacturers said that they were moving to Mexico, that they were taking their car production factories out of Ontario, imagine what would happen. If the federal government said that to really foster Canadian unity it would move the centre of government to Quebec, to Montreal, or to Regina or St. John's, what effect would that have on the economy of Ontario? Very quickly Ontario would become a have not province.
What I am saying is that the pendulum swings. Today we are well off; tomorrow we may not be. That is what Confederation is about. I have said that before. Alberta's turn today may be ours tomorrow. As its oil wells dry up, ours are coming on stream. Once we hit that magic number of the five province or 10 province formula, whichever one is in effect, we become contributing partners and we stay contributing partners. We do not look for equalization. We contribute then. We get the benefit of our own resources, but we pay into the equalization formula that helps other provinces. Somewhere down the road, the pendulum swings back again.
To answer the hon. member's question in short terms, provinces generally are in confederation to help each other and to share with each other. Whichever one happens to be fortunate looks after the less fortunate, because tomorrow the shoe could be on the other foot.