When Conservatives say it, we mean it.
Now, all this stuff got me to thinking. I recall an article I read by Philip Cross earlier in April. In this article, he talks about former finance minister Bill Morneau's book, Where To From Here. He said that Mr. Morneau “described how the absence of a fiscal target and constant meddling from the Prime Minister's Office 'shattered any pretense of fiscal restraint.'”
It just so happens that I read Mr. Morneau's book when it came out. It reminded me of something I thought was very interesting. There's a passage in this book called Where To From Here, where Mr. Morneau describes his experience dealing with the Prime Minister's Office. In one passage, he talks about the CERB. He was asked to go back to his officials, do a calculation and come up with a recommendation as to how much the CERB ought to be. It seems like a reasonable question for a prime minister to ask of his finance minister, to do that analysis.
He talks about his experience. He says:
After looking at all the options and variables, we submitted a range of weekly incomes justified by our carefully considered calculations, only to be overruled by the prime minister and PMO, who rejected our recommendations in favour of distributing $2,000 per month or $500 a week because the numbers “sounded good”.
It's hard to believe that's how fiscal policy is done in Canada.
I'm going somewhere with this. Don't worry, Mr. Chair. I know you're very anxious to hear where I'm going with this argument. Trust me, I am. I have a landing spot.