Mr. Speaker, the member for St. John's South—Mount Pearl has been a very forceful speaker on behalf of Newfoundland. It is helpful for the House to hear that perspective.
The member laid out in his speech that the nation-building principle is enshrined in our Constitution, but that indeed it is the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act that from time to time is amended to take into account new cooperation between the federal and provincial governments.
Having said that, we seem to drift a little bit away from Bill C-24, to be generous. However I know this is very important to the member and to all Canadians, quite frankly, because the measure of success of a country is not an economic measure; it is a measure of the health and well-being of its people and dollars simply will not do it.
The hon. member concluded by saying that this is what they would like to have, so that once they achieve some parity with, for instance, the Ontario benchmark, as it were, then equalization could kick in again to help other provinces. That is an interesting perspective. My question relates to what happens after that.
What happens once Newfoundland has been able to bring its dollar figures up to that Ontario standard with a non-renewable source of revenue from the oil? There has to be something after that. Maybe the member would like to share with the House how we start working on what happens after. What does it mean in terms of how we make sure that there is not a false start yet again when we consider all of the moneys that have been invested over a large number of years in programs that have not been able to trigger that self-generated economic growth and well-being for the people of Newfoundland? It is important to hear the member's perspective.