Mr. Speaker, that is hilarious and you do not have to take my word for it. I suppose the premiers do not understand the budget process either, because the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador had this to say the day after the budget:
The Prime Minister...came to our province...and he made a promise...that natural resource revenues would be removed from the equalization formula.... Yesterday, [the day after the budget] [the Prime Minister] told the people of Newfoundland and Labrador...that his promises...do not count.
Here is another promise. The government claims to be tough on crime. It promised 2,500 new police officers to municipalities across Canada. When they complained that there was nothing in the budget, the national security minister told them to go to the provinces, the same provinces that have been shortchanged.
The minister's response to the real needs of communities reminds me of Marie Antoinette's infamous response to the people of Paris when they were begging for bread, “Let them eat cake”. It was that same kind of shrug, that insensitive answer that the Minister of Finance gave to my serious question.
When will the government turn off the smoke machine, turn down the carousel music and the laugh track--