Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question.
Certainly every time our debt seems to get a bit higher and a bit worse it makes international lenders look a little more sceptically at the ability of Canada to pay off these loans. We have seen our interest rating drop. I am sure we will see other measures taken by international lenders.
I mentioned New Zealand in my speech. What happened in New Zealand was not something that it got a lot of warning about. It came to the point where lenders lost confidence in the ability of New Zealand to make its payments and in a one-month time period it was virtually cut off all foreign loans. That could happen to Canada. I am sure we have a much stronger economy than New Zealand had even though we also have more debt. I am sure people are waiting to see if we can do something in Parliament.
Occasionally we hear encouraging words, unfortunately not followed by encouraging deeds, on the government side of the House. We are hoping that government members will come to their senses and deal with our tremendous debt and deficit. The lenders are waiting to see if they will come around to that. If they do not, I am sure we will see a further drop in our credit rating and higher interest rates.