Mr. Speaker, I guess the hon. member is still in the fear and smear mode of the Liberal campaign, which thankfully failed. Canadians know that the party opposite was the author of so many of the misfortunes that befell our country under its decade of misrule and misgovernance. There is so little of truth in the allegations that were just cited in the House.
I always find it sad when instead of real debate about real issues, we simply have misrepresentation.
The agreement between the governments of Ontario and Canada will be fully honoured by the government. The Minister of Finance has indicated this many times in the House. The government will fully meet the financial commitments of the May 2005 Canada-Ontario agreement. The Minister of Finance has been clear. Budget 2006 sets aside comprehensive funding for this agreement.
The Minister of Finance communicated this commitment directly to the Ontario minister of finance. There can be no ambiguity about our commitment and no confusion about our intent. We have made it clear time and time again in the House, in speeches outside the House and in communications with the province of Ontario.
We have to wonder what is there about a clear and repeated, yes, that the member opposite does not understand. In fact, not only are we committed to funding the original five year agreement, plus an additional year, which was not agreed to, for a total of $6.9 billion over six years.
The government is delivering on the full financial commitment in an open, fair and principled manner. The Minister of Finance has clearly identified mechanisms for disbursing the first $4 billion of these funds. Therefore, past inequities inherited from the federal Liberals are now being addressed.
Some of the areas in the agreement are Ontario specific. For example, with respect to infrastructure, an incremental top-up will be provided to the Canada strategic infrastructure fund for projects in Ontario to restore the province's per capita share of national funding under existing infrastructure agreements.
Other elements of the agreement, including immigration settlement, labour market training, post-secondary education, public transit and environment initiatives, deal with issues that concern Canadians across the country. Therefore, funding in these areas will be provided to all provinces and territories in a fair and transparent manner.
We strongly support and will continue to strongly support a vibrant and thriving Ontario in a strong Canadian federation. Therefore, in addition to our financial commitment under the Canada-Ontario agreement, the federal government is providing significant ongoing transfers to Ontario for health care, wait times reduction and other social programs such as post-secondary education. In fact, in this year alone we will transfer a total of $11.2 billion in cash for programs and services in these priority areas.
We contributed toward infrastructure such as the construction of a second platform in the Union Subway Station last week. We are contributing toward the revitalization of Toronto's waterfront. Just last week we announced and additional $25 million for Toronto's Harbourfront Centre.
Let there be no doubt or question that the federal government will continue to provide substantial support for Ontario. In the budget, the full $6.9 billion, committed under the Ontario-Canada agreement, has been fully budgeted. We are delivering on our promises to Ontarians.