Mr. Speaker, it is not how members of this House, either on this side or that side, react to the government's signals. It is how the money markets react and that reaction has been negative.
Increasing scepticism that the federal government is not really prepared to come to grips with the deficit problem is now leading to concerns that the government may attempt to inflate its way out of a portion of its debt and cause interest rates to rise, the bank rate today rising from 4.25 per cent to 5 per cent.
Will the minister assure the House that the government will resort to deeper spending cuts before it will allow inflation rates to rise above present levels?