The people of Saskatchewan have the opportunity to replace the government. If they no longer wish to have an NDP government, I suppose they could elect an alternative government. We naturally would suggest a Liberal government.
The unemployment number is around 5% and the quite amusing argument is that all the people have left the province. Nevertheless, it is 5%. Ontario's unemployment rate is around 7% and in Newfoundland it is around 14%. I wonder what the premier of Ontario would say to the premier of Saskatchewan who currently enjoys an unemployment rate that is less than the province of Ontario.
The premier of Ontario is currently facing a budget and he is at this point not facing a balanced budget. Last year he ran a deficit of about $5 billion. We on this side of the House have some sympathy for the premier because he inherited a mess from the previous Tory government. We understand inheriting messes from previous Tory governments. It took us some considerable period of time to dig out from underneath a $42 billion deficit. It took us at least three, probably four, budget cycles before we were able to balance the budget, and we paid an electoral cost in the election of 1997 for balancing that budget.
The premier of Ontario has similar difficulty and it will take him time to dig out from his deficit. Currently, I think his projections are that his deficit will run something in the order of $6 billion this year.
As I understand it, the Government of Saskatchewan has a balanced budget. I wonder what the premier of Ontario, who is looking at a deficit, would say to the premier of Saskatchewan, who is looking at a balanced if not a modest surplus and who is putting forward, through his representatives here in the House, a resolution saying that they are not getting their fair share. I dare say that Premier McGuinty might not be as sympathetic as one might otherwise expect.
I note that in September and October, when the Prime Minister and the premiers negotiated the equalization deal, some $33 billion over 10 years, moneys that the premier of Saskatchewan could not have otherwise anticipated other than through the direct intervention of the Prime Minister, the premier of Saskatchewan pronounced himself to be quite satisfied. He did not raise objections with respect to renewable or non-renewable resources at that time and in fact seemed to be quite satisfied with the undertaking on the part of the Minister of Finance to put forward a panel to analyze equalization. The Minister of Finance has fulfilled that undertaking and has agreed to set up the panel which was announced this week.
We appreciate that this is a complex formula. It is spread over 10 provincial jurisdictions and over three territories. It has 33 constituent elements, all of which are going up and down at any given time. It would, in some respects, cross the eyes of a rabbi just to try to follow the entire thing.
The finance minister said that Canada was not a cookie cutter approach to equalization or fairness among provinces. I hope that in my previous comments I was able to illustrate that this is an extraordinarily complex federation where moneys are being transferred back and forth based on renewable resources, non-renewable resources and other measurements of fiscal capacity.
I would suggest to my hon. colleagues opposite, who are supporting the motion, that at least six of the premiers, if not more, would have serious objections to this motion being passed. I can see how the opportunity to delete non-renewable resources from the equalization formula would be very attractive to members from Saskatchewan but it certainly would not be very attractive to other premiers in other jurisdictions.
The premier of Ontario, as I said, is facing some fiscal difficulties and he has inherited some of those difficulties. He has also created some difficulties for himself in that he, in the previous election, undertook to the people of Ontario not to raise taxes. He has been very constrained in his ability to raise revenues. He has sort of an unhappy choice of breaking his promise and raising revenues through taxation or he can raise debt, which I guess will be an inevitable result. He can no longer blame the previous administration for the financial difficulties. He has had an unanticipated windfall from the Government of Canada because he could not have anticipated that the $41 billion in additional health care over the next 10 years, of which Ontario will receive $16 billion, would be available to him when he was running for election in May of last year. Now he is in a situation where the revenues are not what he anticipated them to be and he is looking to the Government of Canada, as is the premier of Saskatchewan.
We have a very complex system, and I would respectfully suggest to members opposite that while it is not a perfect system, it attempts to redress unique situations in the federation from time to time where there are extraordinary circumstances. I would respectfully suggest that in the case of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia those were extraordinary circumstances and that in the case of Saskatchewan members have not made the argument that there are in fact extraordinary circumstances.