Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Minister. It's very nice to see you here. Thank you very much for taking time out of your schedule.
Minister, I have three questions. I'll go through them as quickly as I can, but I'll allow you to answer in between them.
First of all, as you know, Minister Flaherty plotted and strategized our return to a balanced budget. Minister Oliver concluded on that plan in his budget last year.
We handed you a surplus, Minister, in November and December of this year, when you took over. It's evidenced by the Department of Finance Canada's “Fiscal Monitor” of December 2015, where they said first, that there was a budgetary surplus of $2.2 billion, and second, they said that for the year, from April to December 2015, ,the government posted a budgetary surplus of $3.2 billion.
More troubling, though, Minister, is what I found in your backgrounder, which says here very clearly on page 8 of 10, “The stronger outlook for revenues is partially offset by higher projected expenses relating to decisions taken since the Fall Update.”
Is it not the case, Minister, that you are spending more, that you're eroding the surplus that was handed to you by a Conservative government, and that any deficit for the year 2015-16 is clearly on the hands of your government?