Mr. Speaker, if the member looks at the deficit projections we have made he will see they are substantially below the limits that would have been established by the current spending control limits. In fact we have gone far beyond them. It really demonstrates a government that has political will and conviction can do a great deal more than some kind of an artificial standard which in fact the previous government sought to get around.
In terms of the role of Parliament the member had an opportunity to read what I said yesterday in the budget speech. We are opening up the process completely. The finance committee of the House is to play a very important role.
We said that we were going to lay before the finance committee our projections for the next budget, the proposals that we would consider within the next budget, our spending plans, and that they would be subject to more detailed investigation by a committee of the House than has ever been done in the history of the Parliament of Canada.
We were prepared in the House to have a unique debate on the budget before we brought it down and sought from the members of the House their comments. In terms of estimates, the controlling of spending and the examination of the budget, we are not only prepared to co-operate with members of the House but we are most desirous of doing so.