Mr. Page, there's a good likelihood that the government is going to fall on the budget in March, and they want to go to the people saying that if you give us a four-year majority, by 2015--no coincidence--four years from when this election will take place, we will be in a surplus position of $2.6 billion. That's essentially the promise they're making to Canadians by posting those numbers.
There's no plan to get us there. There's no plausible course of action that would lead us there. In fact, they're being contradicted by your office and by the International Monetary Fund, which they can't accuse of being biased. Surely, the IMF's numbers are accepted. I think Canadians would be shocked to know, frankly, that this information is being withheld under the guise of cabinet confidence. That's perhaps the most worrisome information you've brought to us today.
Another piece of information that I thank you for very much is when you answered a question that we've been asking for a year now, and that is that Corrections Canada is going to have to hire 4,100 new prison guards to take care of the anticipated increase in prisoners. Secondly, the RCMP is scheduled to lose 1,140 RCMP officers. The law and order party is promising Canadians there'll be more cops on the street and not fewer.
The only action plan I can see here is cutting and hacking and slashing the public service, and hiring more prison guards for all the prisoners they're going to have stacked up like cordwood after their tough on crime agenda. Where else are they going to save money, other than growth in the economy? Have you unearthed any other realistic methodology to bring us down to the numbers they're promising Canadians?