Mr. Speaker, I was just driven to my feet by the riveting speech of the member opposite. I too could not quite believe what I heard but it was entertaining. It was a bit of comic relief in the Chamber which we do not often get.
I would just like to follow up on the comments of my colleague from Kingston. It is easy enough to sit down and be critical. It is easy to tell the Canadian public that you can solve all of the ills that afflict government and their personal situations. It is easy to say that you can solve the deficit situation overnight. It is called cutting, cutting and cutting. But when you cut, cut, cut you create another problem. You inflict pain on the people who can least afford to have that pain inflicted.
During the election campaign members of the Reform Party were quite good at going around talking about how they were going to control the deficit. Each and every time they were asked tough questions such as: How would you deal with the national defence budget? Would you cut Canada's standing forces by 40 per cent? "Oh no," they said. "We do not want to talk about that right now. We would just cut".
When you ask them about Canada's health care system and whether or not the proposals they were putting forward would jeopardize the integrity of the Canadian health care system and how those cuts would affect it, they did not want to answer.
Therefore, I want to ask the member this question. He mentioned during his speech that Canadians are slaves to the government and that they do not choose every expenditure that the government makes on their behalf. I think that is true. Since he is in a condemning mood today about all the programs that past governments have spent money on, does he believe the taxpayers in Canada were consulted before they started paying for his leader's suits and car?
