Mr. Speaker, before tabling his budget, the Minister of Finance told us repeatedly that he would be cutting expenditures, but he did not have the courage to follow through. Now he is telling us that it is going to happen next year, as part of a second phase. Even the Prime Minister, on tour in Western Canada, contradicts him on that point.
How can the Minister of Finance expect us to believe that he does want to reduce spending when the Prime Minister flatly contradicts him by saying that all cuts the government planned to make were made this year?