Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. When there is a surplus, as it is called, it is there because the government has collected more money than it needs, more money than it had planned to spend, even though it might have planned to spend a great deal. When there is a surplus, there are only a few things that can be done with it: we can spend it, pay down debts or give it back.
I know that we get criticized over here for having this ludicrous notion that we should give money back to Canadians. What I call that is investing in real Canadians, putting it back in the pockets of real Canadians so that they can figure out how to spend it.
What would that be like? My constituents would love to have another $1,000 in their pockets every year and they would love to figure out how they are going to spend it. Maybe they would spend it on their own priorities. Maybe they would save it. Maybe they would send their kids to school. Maybe they would start a business. At least they would have a choice, and that, I think, is what my constituents would like the government to do.