He was a minister. That is why his questions often make sense, unlike the vast majority of his colleagues.
I think what the committee attempted to do was really deal with the unfortunate fact that when a government makes cuts, as the member will know from his previous experience, those cuts do not show up immediately, there is a lag time which must be taken into account.
What was said in the report is that therefore certain tax actions may well be required. That is part of the balance and it is obviously the kind of thing the Minister of Finance and the government will have to take into account.