Mr. Speaker, I do not disagree that there is still time on the clock to fix this, but that really does not answer the question as to why the member who has just spoken, the political minister from Nova Scotia, would say he feels very badly that the member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley left the ice with there being still time on the clock. He did not leave the ice. He was kicked out for standing up strongly behind the accord.
The Atlantic accord anticipated precisely the situation in which we might find ourselves today, and that is precisely why the accord explicitly says in clause 4 that Nova Scotia does not have to choose. The accord says that Nova Scotia gets the full accord benefits whatever equalization is in place at the time, but what that does not take into account is that what was promised has actually been broken.
The accord has been broken, and so no matter how many times the government says Nova Scotia is going to get more benefits, the issue is not whether there are going to be more benefits, the issue is whether Nova Scotia is going to end up being forced to make a choice where it would in part forfeit benefits that were promised. There was never any understanding that the government would end up forcing Nova Scotia into making this choice.