Paradox

I think we have a lot to look forward to from Mr. Pierre Trudeau M.P. (Papineau), the Liberal Party Critic for Post-Secondary Education and Youth. He has demonstrated a tremendous charisma, and an uncanny power to communicate a sense of values and vision that, I think, resonates with Canadians. I think that with Mr. Trudeau we will have a system of more collaborate Cabinet-building than we see with the current prime minister, where the individual talents and characters of ministers are what build responsible (and responsive) government.

I really don't think that it's necessary to rework the equalisation program. I think where the issue comes from is a mischaracterisation of what the program actually does. You hear a number of people, commonly conservatives, arguing that the richer provinces are being forced to "pay" for the subsidies of the less advantaged provinces. This really is not how the program works; the entire thing is paid for out of general revenues raised by the federal government. These richer provinces are not invoiced for equalisation; it does not factor into provincial budgeting at all, in fact. I think it makes perfect sense to help less advantaged provinces maintain levels of public services comparable to other provinces, so that all Canadians have roughly the same access to social services. There are some variances to this, of course, based on the actual management of programs by individual provincial governments, but the principle is, in my view, a sound one.