Mr. Speaker, the hon. parliamentary secretary has illustrated some of the dilemmas. We would sort of go into deficit, then we would go back into surplus and then we would go back into deficit, depending on what ultimately happened with the bill. That is the type of thing I think we should avoid doing.
If it is within $3 billion that is the contingency fund, and if the contingency fund has not been used for any other reason, yes, all that $3 billion could go to the emergency. However if it exceeded $3 billion, we would then be into the deciding which hat to lift up to find the money routine which I suggest may not be the very best.
I would agree with him that, yes, and obviously everybody in this House would agree, we will respond to an emergency. The question is that when we start putting out bills that limit us in the future and limit what people can do in the future, despite what pressures there may be in the future, I think we get into the type of situation that I described.
The fact is that we have mechanisms but then the question is, if we have such mechanisms, does this bill make any sense.