Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member; all of us were offended by having these cuts just announced. The federal government told us that this was treated like a budget, that it was all done in secret, and we weren't the only jurisdiction. All jurisdictions across Canada were not given any information on it. It was a surprise to everybody the day it happened.
Mr. Speaker, since that time we have been trying to get clarification on all of the different budget cuts and some of it we still don't know because there's no detail when it comes to things like cutting departmental efficiencies in DIAND. We don't know what that means and we're still seeking information. Some other areas we have a little more information.
Since that time, Mr. Speaker, we have expressed our concern. I've done it personally with the Minister of DIAND. The Minister of ECE has written with regard to literacy cutting and the Minister of MACA has talked to his counterpart. Mr. Speaker, I am sending a letter to both Minister Prentice and to the Prime Minister emphasizing our concern about these budget cuts.
The Member is right; we are on almost like an allowance, but the big issue is that we don't get our fair share of the resource revenues. While the cuts are important, it's the big picture of resource revenues that we need to get our share of money from our resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.