Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the member's question surrounding recent changes to strengthen the equalization system.
First, let me be clear. We are committed to treating all provinces equally and that is why we have restored fiscal balance through long term and fair transfer support to the provinces, as well as the territories, and why, under our Conservative government, federal support to the provinces has reached historic levels of over $54 billion and will continue to grow every year.
Equalization itself has grown 56% since earlier in the decade at a pace of 15% annually and such growth was clearly unsustainable. We made changes to ensure equalization would grow in line with the economy, allowing the program to remain affordable and sustainable.
We are pleased that the provinces have accepted the necessity of this action and to working co-operatively during this economic challenge. Even better, we are protecting transfer support to provinces. Health transfers will continue to grow by 6% and social transfers will continue to grow by 3%.
If we contrast that with the Liberals' record on supporting provinces when they were in government, the Liberal record is clear. The Liberals radically and shamefully slashed transfer payments to provinces and territories, a record even current Liberal MPs cannot help but be highly critical of. For instance, the Liberal member for Kings—Hants stated that the Liberal government devastated health care in Canada by making draconian slashes to health care and putting health care in a crisis in every province.
Our Conservative government will not follow the discredited Liberal example. We will ensure provinces and territories have the ability to provide the health care, education and other services that families need.
What is more, Newfoundland is now proudly a have province, and that is a good thing, a good thing because, economically, strong provinces like Newfoundland are essential for a strong Canada.
Premier Danny Williams said that “Newfoundland and Labrador is now a have province. It's a momentous day...it means we'll probably receive less money but...we can hold our heads high and feel very good about it”. Even still, Newfoundland will still receive a projected $1.2 billion in offset payments between 2009-10 and 2011-012. That support is on top of the $2 billion in up-front payments Newfoundland retained as part of the 2005 accord and, despite no longer receiving equalization, federal support for Newfoundland remains strong; total support of $1.1 billion in 2009-10, including $372 million through health transfers and $164 million through social transfers.
What is the Liberal plan for the people of Newfoundland? To quote exactly from the Liberals' own leader, he said “Federal taxes must go up.... We will have to raise taxes”. We understand that has caused great concern in Newfoundland and many are looking for more details on this Liberal plan to hike taxes.
I would ask the Liberal member which taxes will be raised on Newfoundlanders, when and by how much.