Mr. Speaker, last December 19, the Conservative Prime Minister made a solemn commitment to correct the fiscal imbalance in the 2007-08 budget. Obviously, the Conservatives have been working for some months now to lower the expectations of Quebeckers.
It is unfortunate to see today that this political operation is being orchestrated with the Liberals of Jean Charest, as can be seen in a text written by the Quebec minister of finance this morning in La Presse. Not only does the minister clumsily try to disassociate himself from the figure of $3.9 billion, which he himself advanced last April 12 in the National Assembly as the amount needed to correct the fiscal imbalance, but worse still, he twists his own words by reproducing the text of his remarks minus the last sentence in which he says of that $3.9 billion, and I quote, “That is what we have demanded and that is what we are going to discuss in the coming months”.
The original demand of the Government of Quebec is very clear; it is $3.9 billion and nothing less. The Charest government must be steadfast and not back down on the amount. The best interests of Quebec are at stake.