I can assure you that I never ran a deficit in Ontario as Minister of Finance there, and I won't run one here. The way you control that is by being as careful as you can on the spending side. I know that's not a traditional idea in Ottawa, but we're running a tight ship; we are going to control spending. This year we are already spending over $1 billion less than budgeted. The role of Treasury Board is very important; they're doing a terrific job, and so are the ministers, in controlling spending. Nothing gets spent until it's ready to be spent.
On November 23rd, 2006. See this statement in context.