Mr. Speaker, I heard the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans throwing the word deplorable around a lot in his rhetorical flourish. He started off in such nice diplomatic terms and he was on the high road, but he descended very quickly, as is often the case, into the usual attacks and the distractions and the deflections in an attempt to get away from the real issue.
The real issue is the Prime Minister keeping his commitment to Atlantic Canada, giving that province and Newfoundland and Labrador 100% of the revenues, 100% of the benefit that should flow to the minister's province. He should be the strongest defender of the province in that regard. He should be the first one to line up and back the premier of Nova Scotia and ensure that it happens. That is not the case. He is spouting the government line here today, just as we have heard from all members opposite throughout this debate.
The reality of what is happening is that the Prime Minister and the minister himself, who has been involved in these negotiations, have added conditions. They have added an eight year cap. They have put in place this equalization stacking, which will prevent the province from receiving 100% of the benefits. When we see more revenue coming on stream in future development like the Deep Panuke project, the clawback will kick in again and Nova Scotia will not receive 100% of the benefits. The minister knows that. He is being mendacious if he is telling us otherwise. He is being very, very disingenuous. I will tell--