Mr. Speaker, how very generous of them to say that, for $200 million, they will give us the equivalent tax points while at the same time they will cut something like $1 or $1.5 billion in equalization.
To my understanding, this is not about recovering equivalent tax points. So, their whole way of going about reallocating
transfer payments will have a negative impact on Quebec. A two minute analysis of the document makes this patently obvious. In any case, I have no intention of spending the whole day looking at it; I have more important things to do.
The hon. member corrected what was said about seniors by saying that not everyone would face a 15 per cent cut. It is true that that is not the case. They say the focus will be on those most in need, but, here again, it is not defined, just as they do not really define either who will be targeted by the UI cuts. They do not say who is going to be affected by those.
This is how it works. When they do not have enough information to provide more details, they stick to basic principles, which do not take into account the overall impact. It is easy to talk about cutting $1, $2 or $3 billion dollars. When we start looking at the workings or into the details, we see that a lot is missing. Fine principles are easily espoused, but hard to put into practice. The Reform Party cannot get around it. This document is not worth any more than the paper it is printed on.