Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his questions.
People usually think of me as an optimist, but the member opposite just called me a doomsayer. I absolutely cannot accept that.
As for the money going to Quebec taxpayers, I can tell my colleague that if he tries to seek treatment in Quebec, he will find out that certain things need more money spent on them than they are getting at present. People who need health care are paying the price for the government's inaction.
The government is not listening to the provinces. It does not understand that the cuts to health transfers are leaving the health care system increasingly vulnerable.
I would like to be able to tell my colleague he is right about the unemployment rate and my age. However, I am older than I look. I was born in 1966, so I have seen lower unemployment than this. Statistics Canada's own data shows that the unemployment rate was lower from 1966 to 1976.
My final point—