Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.
Yesterday, the federal debt went above the $500 billion mark. In general, people were disappointed with the Throne Speech in that there was no mention of any true resolve on the part of the government to address with determination the issue of deficit reduction. The Throne Speech confirmed all of the fears about the threats facing our social programs.
Are we to understand from the Throne Speech that the government, lacking the courage the make the hard choices that are necessary, has decided to reduce the deficit at the expense of the less fortunate by cutting funding to social programs?