The government takes all these measures under the pretense of being short of money. The federal administration is in a bad financial situation. The government says we must not penalize those who will follow us, namely our children. How touching, Madam Speaker! When will the decision-makers in this government understand that it would be more appropriate to explore new options than to target the poor in our society and reduce the benefits of those who hardly have anything? We agree that the financial situation of Canada is tragic. We agree that the successive governments, starting with the previous Liberal administration in which the current Prime Minister was Minister of Finance, have generated deficits for Canada. Indeed, the Liberal government of the time was followed by a Conservative government which continued to put us in deeper economic trouble.
In the House of Commons on February 2nd, 1994. See this statement in context.