Mr. Speaker, an economist, Mary Webb of Scotiabank, said that the province had been anticipating a 3% hike in transfers. Not only was that not the increase they had been expecting, it was a reduction. She goes further, expecting that the provincial taxes in Nova Scotia will go up as a result of this budget.
I have no difficulty with the people of Quebec receiving a generous tax benefit. I believe in more competitive taxes. However, I believe the people of Nova Scotia deserve competitive taxes as well. As a result of this budget, they may end up, according to Scotiabank's economist, paying more.
The history of the Atlantic accord is an important one. I think some of the most important and erudite words and perspective on the Atlantic accord was provided by the Prime Minister, when he was leader of the opposition, on November 4, 2004, when he said:
This is an opportunity and...a one time opportunity. It is [an]...opportunity to allow these provinces to kick-start their economic development, to get out of [their] have not status, to grow this...opportunity into [the] long run...and revenue that will be paid back to Ottawa over and over again and that will benefit the people of those regions of Canada for a...long time.
He went further in justifying the offshore accord by referring to the situation in his own province of Alberta. He said:
This is what happened in the case of my province of Alberta. Alberta discovered oil and gas in the 1940s and 1950s, Alberta was a have not province. [But between] 1957 until 1965, Alberta received transfers from the equalization [system]. Alberta was allowed to keep 100% of its oil royalties and there was no federal clawback. This is what allowed Alberta to kick-start its economy, to expand and diversify, to build universities, to advance social services and to become one of the [economic] powerhouses of the 21st century....
That, exactly, is the justification for the Atlantic accord, no cap, unconditional support, above and beyond equalization payments, that the people of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia deserve full benefit from the revenue of their offshore resources.
The member for Central Nova, in the same debate on November 4, 2004, said in this House:
There [has been] a recognition that when an industry is started there is a lag time before those benefits actually begin, as in the province of Alberta, which was permitted to continue to receive equalization. And equalization is just that: it is meant to equalize opportunities, both financial and otherwise, for citizens of that region.
Alberta was permitted to have that industry kick start, to have [its] exploration...take place.... Equalization is about giving our region the [same] ability to reach [its] potential and...future growth.
Further to that, in an oped in November 2004 in the Halifax ChronicleHerald, the member for Central Nova said:
In the interests of Atlantic Canadians, the prime minister must commit to 100 per cent of the royalties, no caps, no time limits.
He went further and said:
The spectacle of these Liberals joining forces with the separatist Bloc Quebecois in order to defeat the Conservative offshore motion adds insult to injury.
I wonder whether he would consider what he is doing now, uniting with the separatists and the Bloc against the interests of Nova Scotians and Newfoundlands, just as egregious.
He also went further and said:
In the next election, the people of Nova Scotia will remember that it was...the Conservatives who supported Premier Hamm's government in its fight for our own resources. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Liberal MPs will be left to explain to the voters why they chose to abandon the interests of our province and, in doing so, betrayed the future prosperity of the people of Nova Scotia.
Let me rephrase that into the current context and, in his own words, I think it would be appropriate to say that he would probably agree that in the next election the people of Nova Scotia will remember that it was Stéphane Dion and the Liberals who supported Premier MacDonald's government in it's--