Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley is driving his point home as a former used car salesman, but I know he would appreciate the fact, as would my colleagues opposite from the province, that the situation in Nova Scotia is such that we are spending 42% of the provincial revenue to cover health care. I would suspect that there is a similar number in the province of Newfoundland. That does not give us the flexibility to address the issues of infrastructure, education and the many other sources within that province that need attention.
My friend is right when he talks about the need for the best possible deal, and that must be the 100% return on the non-renewable resource, which is our oil and gas resource.
There is an issue we are talking about in terms of going forward, and there is his reference to the Nova Scotia Liberal leader saying we should take the money now and try to negotiate something later, which does not wash. First of all, we have seen what happens when provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador pre-emptively signed a deal that effectively gave away any real means that they might have had to benefit from the Churchill Falls project in a substantial way, in a way that would get that province into a have status.
Nova Scotia is not going to be bullied. We are not going to be divided between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador on this issue. We are going to work collectively for the best possible return.
The issue here is ensuring that the Prime Minister keeps his word and that he is held to account for having made that promise during the election. The issue is obviously the long term prosperity of our province, to allow us to ensure that children who grow up in the province can stay and work and be the full beneficiaries of that natural resource. I would ask my friend to comment on that as well.