A member over there, who obviously does not understand what I a talking about, says “Get real”. The facts are this. That is 100% accurate. As an accountant I have seen it time and time again.
What this government is doing is saying “We will bring all this down to zero, but we are not going to tell you that we could have had a $10 billion or $15 billion surplus. We are going to blow it”.
This year it said that it would create a millennium fund, make the Liberals look real good, make the Prime Minister look real good, and at the same time stand up in the House of Commons and say “Look, we have balanced the books”.
The question is: What happens next year if we are headed for a $10 billion or $15 billion surplus?
Is there going to be money paid to Bombardier in grants like we have seen before, only in bigger dollars? Are we going to see the friends of the friends rewarded with yet more money and at the same time, after they blow this money, will they come into this House and sanctimoniously talk about balancing the books?
We are in for a lot of discussion on this very issue. It is fact, according to the generally accepted accounting principles, that the millennium fund should not have been charged to prior year accounting balance sheets.