Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Minister, for attending this morning.
As I've heard the discussion to this point, it's becoming very clear to me that the dialogue is much more along partisan lines. I'd like to stick to the facts and try to be as clear as we can.
When I listen to my constituents in London, Ontario, like all Canadians, they've had to be in a position of being very mindful, because like of all us, they have gone through the worst global recession over the last couple of years. We're coming through it, I think. The jobs recovery is certainly one indication of that, and yet I still believe it's a fragile economy. What's becoming clear to me is that while Canadians have an expectation of themselves in terms of trying to balance their own personal budgets, they're asking our government, and all members of Parliament as part of the participatory process, to ensure that we restrain government spending in times of recovery.
We've been asked to provide balanced and restrained spending. My sense clearly is that the government is doing what Canadians are asking us to do.
As I reflect on this, one of the things I hear from constituents is the issue, Minister, of what is the impact on them of cutting services. I'd like to get a sense of what the government's position is relative to that. The other thing that's been fairly clear to me this time around in terms of our approach to balancing the budget—and I'm really combining two questions into one, if I may—is the issue of transfer payments to the provinces. That's the other point. It's that trickle-down concern that provinces have, that municipalities will have, that taxpayers will have.
Those are the two issues I would ask you to comment on: the issue of cutting services that Canadians expect of us and the transfer payments to the provinces.