Mr. Speaker, I listened to the previous speaker. The government always talks about when Canada is compared with other countries this is the greatest country in the world in which to live. Quite frankly, it is no contest. Canada is, when you compare it to other countries, certainly the best country in the world in which to live.
I would like to suggest a real test for the government. Compare Canada as it is now with its huge financial crisis, its huge deficit every year, its huge national debt, with how it could be if we had had responsible government running the country over the last 25 years.
I look over at the government and I see a mirror of the Tories. The Tories' plan was not to reduce spending but count on revenue growth to get us out of this fiscal problem. They merrily spent like drunken sailors and, guess what, revenue did not grow. We ended up another $200 and something billion in the hole. The deficit climbed every year and the expected revenue growth simply did not occur.
That is what the government is counting on as well when it uses a figure of 3 per cent GDP by 1997. Theoretically by using that figure, the government does not have to cut costs. All it has to do is hope for the revenue growth to go up and it will achieve that percentage. But that is no accomplishment in thrift. That is no accomplishment in-