Mr. Speaker, Canadians can play these endless games of “I am more prosperous than you are”, and essentially that is what it boils down to, but I draw the hon. member's attention again to the annex in the budget. It does compare Manitoba and Saskatchewan over that period of time.
In 1993-94 Manitoba was running $431 million in a deficit position as opposed to Saskatchewan's $272 million in a deficit position. Since then, it has relatively run a parallel course, although at this stage Manitoba's surplus in 2004-05 will be $11 million whereas Saskatchewan's surplus will be $289 million.
For the purposes of equalization, clearly Saskatchewan is a have province. I do not know the formula well enough to say on the floor of the House of Commons whether Manitoba is about to become a have province.