Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure today that I speak to the opposition day motion and to defend the interests of my province and the interests of Atlantic Canadians.
With a massive surplus, one would expect from a government some pleasant surprises. In fact, Atlantic Canadians received a very unpleasant surprise in this budget.
I think the headlines this week in the Halifax papers said it all. “Conservatives have 'abandoned Atlantic Canada':...” was the headline in the Daily News. “No fiscal fairness for N.S. Province loses equalization battle to vote-rich Ontario, Quebec, Alberta” was a headline in The ChronicleHerald. “Federal Conservatives shaft province, once again”, another heading in the The ChronicleHerald. “Note to Rodney: Stephen--”, that is the Prime Minister, “--played you big time”, also in the The ChronicleHerald.
The finance minister speaks of fiscal imbalance. There are two kinds of fiscal imbalance. One is between a federal government and the provincial government and the other is between provincial governments.
I will be sharing my time with the member for West Nova today and he will expand on this important principle.
I would argue that the fiscal imbalance between provinces has grown as a result of this budget. The finance minister speaks to the importance of us addressing the issue of a welfare wall. In fact, this budget constructs a welfare wall around the people of Atlantic Canada by denying them the opportunity to get their economies in shape and to move forward with a prosperous, vigorous economy for future generations of Atlantic Canadians.
The finance minister, in his budget speech, said:
The long, tiring, unproductive era of bickering between the provincial and federal governments is over.
Within minutes, the Conservative premier of Nova Scotia, Rodney MacDonald, said that his province was essentially being asked to make a choice, to roll the dice. He continued by saying:
It's almost as if they want to continue giving handouts to Nova Scotians rather than us keeping our offshore accord, and that to me is fundamentally unfair.
He also said:
I'm certainly caught by surprise tonight, and quite frankly, my government's caught by surprise tonight. I've always believed the offshore accord was an economic right of Nova Scotians—not equalization, not a handout.
It's almost as if they want to continue giving handouts to Nova Scotians....
He said Monday he was "blindsided" by the federal budget's attack on the accord.
He further stated:
The federal government has laid down a discriminatory budgetary hammer on the people of Nova Scotia.
It is blatantly unfair. We believe it is money that properly belongs to the people of Nova Scotia.
In altering the formula and treating our accord money as equalization, the federal government has done exactly what it said it would not do, and pushed us backward.
One of the federal Conservative candidates for the nomination in Halifax is Jane Purves. Jane Purves was the chief of staff to Premier Hamm who helped negotiate the accord with the Liberal government. I know the member for Halifax West, a colleague in the federal cabinet, was actively involved in those negotiations and he would remember that Jane Purves and Premier Hamm played important and constructive roles in helping to make this accord happen.
This is what Jane Purves, who intends to seek the nomination for the Conservative Party in Halifax, says about this. She stated:
--I think it puts the province in a really difficult position to choose between the offshore accords and a different equalization formula. I don’t know what they’re going to do.
She further stated:
I was part of that team and that’s what makes it difficult.
I’m not in support of this particular aspect of the budget....
Even the member for Avalon, in a radio interview, said, “We didn't get what most people wanted on equalization”. He admitted his government's failure to stand up for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
Premier Williams has been extremely vocal. He said:
I am calling on all Progressive Conservatives across this country who don't agree with the policies of Stephen Harper--