Mr. Speaker, the Spending Control Act put in place by the previous government is a reasonably ineffective piece of legislation in that it permitted borrowing from one year to the other year, going back and going forward. It allowed governments to engage in a fair amount of accounting tomfoolery.
When we take a look at the deficit projections we have made and at the spending projections we have made which by the third year, to respond to the member, will have us spending lower than this year, from our point of view it is very clear our spending targets are substantially lower than anything that would be contained in the Spending Control Act. That is why we are not going to extend it.
As the Deputy Prime Minister has said, why do we need a benchmark; we are in the process of hitting home runs.