Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the point raised by the member opposite about multiple benefit and so on, but the fact is that 70% of the $2.5 billion pledged is mainly for Conservative ridings.
However, it is much simpler. All that members need to agree on is that a per capita distribution is fair and that the extra speed and accountability that come with the gas tax transfer make this approach superior. Why get tangled up in selections? Why does the federal government want to do that, when it says its goal is economic stimulus and when its record is to not get money out the door effectively, even today? The record last year was 4%.
The point is raised because it is the temptation of government to keep a hand on the rudder to serve those smaller purposes. I say to the member opposite and to all members of the House that we must resist that temptation--