Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a pleasure to raise again this question that I raised earlier with regard to the accord, especially on such an important day as today when we are discussing the budget and the shortcomings in the budget.
Of the many shortcomings, I think of the way that the government turned its back on and withdrew from the Atlantic accord. Because of the impact that has had on the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and the people of Nova Scotia, I think it is appropriate that I am able to address this in adjournment proceedings this evening.
I recall the day, February 14, 2005, when my colleagues joined with the provincial government and then Premier John Hamm and we signed that momentous accord that some Nova Scotians refer to as the single greatest day for the people of Nova Scotia since the discovery of oil and gas off our coast.
I know that when the parliamentary secretary gets up to answer my question she is going to say in her reply that everything is being abided by and the commitment to the people of Nova Scotia is not being challenged. That is not in fact the truth. That is totally false.
Let us listen to some of our foremost and respected economists, not just in Atlantic Canada but in this country, including Wade Locke from Memorial University , who states that $11 billion will be lost to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Mr. Paul Hobson, a respected economist from Acadia University, who states that $1 billion will be lost by the province of Nova Scotia.
Right across the Atlantic provinces, this is not going unnoticed. Peter O'Brien, a former Atlantic vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and certainly no big friend of the Liberal Party of Canada, outright condemns the new formula that was put forward in the government's last budget.
He said not long ago through an op-ed that when the changes were made he was willing to accept the word of the federal finance minister and Nova Scotia's regional minister, but now he states, “Now, faced with the indisputable analysis from two respected economists, it is obvious that” what has come from this government is “spin”. He said that the government “did not tell us that the budget established a cap on the combined equalization transfers and revenue from the Atlantic accord, which would penalize” these two provinces.
What we have seen from the government throughout this whole play is a bad imitation of Howie Mandel on Deal or No Deal. We have heard the regional minister, the member for Central Nova, say that if the people of Nova Scotia do not want this deal, okay, and the government will see them in court if they do not think they are getting a fair deal.
This is something that the people of Nova Scotia and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador already had. This is something that they fought for and received. This is not something additional.
That is why I ask the government to stand by the agreement that was signed between the province of Nova Scotia and the federal government and to deliver to the people of Nova Scotia what is theirs.