Mr. Speaker, the rhetoric goes on and on about all the confidence Canadians have. I have been doing a lot of travelling around Canada in the last few months. I wish I could assure everyone that the confidence is there but it is not.
One of the reasons it is not there is that there is one thing which never seems to be mentioned on that side of the House: the huge debt and the interest costs in servicing that debt. It is pretty obvious to everyone that is the biggest threat to our social programs and the future of our country. It rests totally in what we are going to do about that huge debt as it grows and grows and grows.
I have listened to the finance minister and he does not talk about it. I have listened to the Prime Minister and he does not talk about it. All the speeches I have heard from that side of the House never talk about what Canadians perceive to be a very major problem: the huge growing debt and the interest payments to service that debt which have now become the largest expense the government has.
Why does the hon. member not address the debt and the interest on it? What are we going to do about that? Why have none of his colleagues addressed this? Have they been ordered not to talk about it? Why do they not bring it into their speeches? Is that why there is closure after only one day? Is it so no one else will have the opportunity to mention this country's major problem?
I would like somebody on that side of the House to explain to me when a deficit figure goes down at one rate and an interest figure goes up at another rate, just exactly who are they trying to fool when they talk about all the savings they are bringing in and that they are going to meet their targets and all the problems are going to be solved? I think they are leading Canadians astray and I wish somebody would address the debt and the interest that is growing daily and what they are going to do about it. The only thing I can suggest is a zero budget and I have not heard anything about that.