Mr. Speaker, you are quite right. I have been here long enough to know that I should not call the Prime Minister by name. It is just that my provincial counterpart did and I quoted him, but I understand your point.
The leader of the NDP in Nova Scotia said that the Prime Minister endorsed the offshore accord when he was the opposition leader and now the Conservatives are treating Nova Scotia, and indeed the Atlantic provinces, in a way that will enshrine regional disparity.
I can see that members on the Conservative benches are rolling their eyes and thinking would they not expect a New Democrat to say that, the New Democrats here in the House and New Democrats in opposition in Nova Scotia. Yes, we would expect them to say that.
Let me quote something else. This is from a motion that was passed in the Nova Scotia legislature in the aftermath of this incredible betrayal. Here is the motion that was passed in the Nova Scotia legislature:
Whereas the 2007-08 federal budget unfairly forces the Province of Nova Scotia to choose between economic development and sustaining its share of equalization to support the fundamental needs of the people of this province; and
Whereas this is a major blow to the efforts of Nova Scotia to become self-sufficient; and
Whereas the commitment to all citizens of Canada to restore the country's fiscal balance include a promise to “ensure that no province is adversely affected from changes to the equalization formula”;
Therefore be it resolved that all representatives of this House of Assembly stand together in calling on the federal government to recommit to the true intent of the Atlantic accord, to stand alone as an economic tool to support Nova Scotia's goal of self-sufficiency and remove what is, in fact, a discriminatory budgetary hammer on the people of Nova Scotia.
The member for Central Nova is best known to people as the foreign affairs minister, but he also serves and proudly does so as the political minister for Nova Scotia. I think he should go to Nova Scotia and explain how it is that he has been able to support this discriminatory budgetary hammer on the people of Nova Scotia. He wears the title and gets the perks that go with it. Therefore, he should give an accounting of that spectacular betrayal.
I admire the fact that across the board the members of the Nova Scotia legislature have stood together and stood up for Nova Scotians.
Let me also challenge the premier of Nova Scotia to go one step further. He will know that the premier of Newfoundland has seen fit to counsel the people of his province, particularly within his party, to not vote for the Conservative Party in the next election whenever it comes. I do not get to challenge the premier of Nova Scotia, but let me remind him what has been said by his provincial counterpart in Newfoundland. Danny Williams has suggested that the Prime Minister cannot be trusted. He is the same Prime Minister who basically reneged on money for women, for literacy groups, for volunteers, for students, for minority rights. He is a Prime Minister who has not lived up to the Kyoto accord and for aboriginal people.
There is a long list of people who have been hard done by the government in a minority situation. If the Conservatives were to get a majority government, I am quoting the Conservative Premier of Newfoundland who said that we have to be very concerned about what commitments they will deliver on.
This is a challenge to all members. The challenge is whether we are prepared to stand together around commitments made on the floor of this legislature, whether we are prepared to stand together for measures that reduce the prosperity gap. That is what is at the heart of this motion. Also, the challenge is whether we are prepared to stand together to say this is our vision for a better Canada and we are prepared to work together to put that vision into effect.