That it was a wise review, broadly. Two interesting things happened that day. One, for the first time in nine years, I believe, program spending was actually down one year over the other. That hadn't happened since the years when the federal government was fighting the deficit. It was a welcome change to see that by holding some year-end spending and focusing on priority areas, that was in fact possible. And lo and behold, the sky did not fall.
There were two areas. The finance minister and the Treasury Board president announced $1 billion in reductions, cuts, over the two years, and as well another $1 billion in efficiency savings. Again, broadly speaking, those reductions are in line with the priorities of most Canadians.
Services weren't cut. What we saw was funding that either hadn't been spent, was redundant, or went to special interest groups. And that, I think, is one area that the government has to tackle, the funding of special interest groups, the groups out there who are working either to oppose the government's agenda or, frankly, to support it. Taxpayers have no business funding those kinds of organizations, regardless of their political orientation.