Mr. Baird, you are telling us that you needed to make some cuts. I did not say otherwise. And I did not say that you had cut everything. But why did only 25% involve government operations?
You talked about Treasury Board. Over a 5-year period, from 2000 to around 2005, the Treasury Board's budget increased by 26%. I understand that you are going to say that you were not there, but you are there now. Given your responsibility as a minister, why did you not reduce your budget in a significant way and ask all the other departments to do the same thing, in order to trim the fat in government operations and leave the public with the services that are needed in the areas of culture or advocacy?
I said earlier that you had made ideological cuts. You cannot tell me that this is not true, since we know that you have eliminated all funding for advocacy groups. That is an objective you set out in certain departments. They did not just imagine it. Why have you affected the public directly in this way, instead of trimming the fat?