Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister and is along the same line as the one asked by the hon. member who spoke before me. I hope that she will not mind if I ask her a question that would normally be for the Minister of Finance.
We are told this morning that the federal deficit for 1993-94 will reach a new record level. As a result of upward pressures on the deficit at the end of the fiscal year, it could top $45.7 billion at some point during the last two months of the current fiscal year.
Would the Deputy Prime Minister confirm that the federal deficit could exceed the record level of $45.7 billion forecast in the budget?