Madam Speaker, the reason to treat these revenues differently is they are short term and temporary revenues. There has been much academic work done in this area. This is the depletion of a capital asset.
However, the reality is bigger than that. It is not a technical argument about how equalization should or should not be formatted. It is about the fact that Newfoundland and Labrador has an opportunity. It is in the midst of one of the worst economic declines of a region of the country we have seen in our entire history. Large portions of the province are losing their population. Their economy is disappearing. People are boarding up their houses and moving away. How dare, under these circumstances, that member and the government stand up and try to pit rich parts of the country against Newfoundland and Labrador and play some kind of envy among the provinces.
Frankly, it is not up to me to explain why the Prime Minister is not keeping his word. It is up to the Prime Minister to keep his word.