Mr. Speaker, in his comments my hon. colleague mentioned that the finance minister has the ability to make the same deal with Saskatchewan as he has made with Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, but he has appointed a committee to study this process. I am wondering if the member could shed any light on why we need a committee now when the finance minister was able to do business with two provinces without a committee.
I would also be interested in knowing what the makeup of that committee is. He mentioned some people who were rather close to the finance minister. I would like some comments on that, please.