Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has touched on a very sensitive point, indeed. I know the Quebec government signed that agreement, but it was not pleased to do so. It only signed so the entire population would not be penalized. It is not up to the federal government to tell us what our objectives should be, which is why Quebec refuses any conditions on funding.
It seems to me that our sensitivity is being mocked here this morning. I do not understand why my colleague brought this up. He knows very well that Quebec is very sensitive about all its programs, especially when it comes to provincial jurisdictions. The last government and previous governments all adopted this attitude. This is precisely why Quebec institutions are so strong, active and proactive in many areas, particularly health care and education. We try to correct things when the time is right.
For our child care alone, we should have been paid for all the analyses done in Quebec. The government refused on child care, but we wanted it to apply to the entire Canadian population. The conditions were therefore accepted, but not necessarily with pleasure. We would have preferred to have no conditions. However, we did manage to have the Quebec clause, which returns the money to Quebec to help the population.