Mr. Speaker, in a letter about the harmonization of the GST that was published in the newspapers, the Quebec finance minister, Raymond Bachand, said that the difference between the GST and the QST amounts to less than 1% of the GST tax base, which is well below the 5% authorized by the federal government. So, clearly, this is not the reason for the breakdown in negotiations.
Can the minister therefore explain why the Conservative government is stubbornly refusing to give Quebec $2.2 billion in compensation?