The Budget  Mr. Speaker, since the minister was so quick to get to his feet, I would like to remind him what he said since he thinks he read the budget. He said, “We don't always have control of our own destiny. We all like to do things...So what do you do then, you make the best of the situation you have...”.

Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act  Mr. Speaker, this is such a great issue not just for coastal Newfoundland and Labrador but for coastal Canada. We have some of the greatest heritage celebrated in the world when it comes to certainly lighthouses and a perspective of history. I would also like to point out what a lot of people overlook.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it seems my name is known quite a bit in this little conversation we have been having. Let me get this straight. What the Conservatives trumpet, what they talk about, what the minister talks about in this particular budget, what he brags about by saying “no cap”, “offset payments”, “principal beneficiaries of our own resources”, is all that we did and he condemned so much.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, on November 2, 2004 the hon. member, who sits across the way, and I had a conversation over this very same debate. I would like to remind her what she had said to this House. She said: Alberta's history is one that Newfoundlanders can relate to. In the early part of the 20th century, Alberta's legislators campaigned to ensure that Alberta was granted full rights over its natural resources.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I compliment my hon. colleague who is doing a masterful job at bringing out the points out in the House today, a very adequate job indeed. Earlier he mentioned the member of Parliament for Avalon. Some interesting comments were made. The Conservatives seem to be vehemently defending the part of the budget that they call equalization, but yet comments heard through the media recall the member for Avalon saying as follows, “I mean, politicians of all political stripes have made promises before...you know...many of them have broken the promises they have made, I mean it's not a new thing to a lot of people”.

Business of Supply  We did it.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am in my seat, thank you very much.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, am I speaking in a language that is not being understood? This literature I have is the literature that was sent to Newfoundland and Labrador. I have the commitment here. Maybe I should talk about the commitment that was made to the entire country, not just Newfoundland and Labrador, as was portrayed here.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, l would comment by saying this. Perhaps the hon. member was not around on February 14 a few years ago when we signed the deal. The whole principle of this was that we would protect clawbacks in equalization. Therein lies the basic principle. We said we would do this and we did it, as Premier Williams has said, time and time again.

Business of Supply  My hon. colleague says it was more money. I would like to point out to my hon. colleague that it is zero. The choice is either to take what we have now, which we got from the Liberal government, or take from the Conservative government, which is even less.

Business of Supply  Yes, shame, indeed. Every one of them, especially in Atlantic Canada. I will say this in the House right now, and I am sure they know it and we know it, hell hath no fury like a Danny Williams scorned. What they say to me is that maybe the premier does this all the time and that maybe he likes to use theatrics.

Business of Supply  My hon. colleague across the way yells “No, he doesn't”. Yes, he does. He illustrates my example that all they are doing is trying to victimize a man who is only saying that the Conservatives made a written commitment and now they are saying it is over. The $200 million that they pledged in extras is gone, and deceptively.

Business of Supply  moved: That this House regret that the party now forming the government has abandoned the principles respecting the Atlantic Accords, equalization and non-renewable resource revenues as articulated in the motion it put before the House on Tuesday, March 22, 2005.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride and honour that I stand today to represent not only my constituents but all those of Newfoundland and Labrador and all those of the country for which I consider to be a grave injustice that has been served upon this country and certainly upon our neck of the woods, as they say, which would be Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister made a promise on equalization. True to form, this is promise made and promise broken. The way the government has set this up my province is forced to choose either the Atlantic accord or the complete exclusion of non-renewable resources but with the cap.