Mr. Speaker, when the average Canadian is faced with a $200 a month increase in mortgage payments, he or she has only one real option and that is to cut spending in other areas of expenditure. When it comes to meeting increased mortgage payments on the national house we hear, to our dismay, that the ministry is now considering getting the money from tax increases on gasoline, on personal incomes and on corporate incomes.
Will the minister please tell us that these rumours are utterly unfounded, that there is no truth to the fact, and that he has no intention of taking more money out of taxpayers' pockets in order to meet his increased mortgage payments?