Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask two questions. When we came into office, we were faced, and everybody agrees on that, with a deficit of about $45 billion and an accumulated debt of about $500 billion. My colleague said that there were a number of things he would have done, supposedly, if he had been in power to try to control the deficit and the debt.
He forgot to tell us how much he would have saved on each of his initiatives. Moreover, he said-and he will correct me if I am wrong-that he would have spent more. He said three things: Here is what I would have done, but without telling us how much he would have saved; here is what I would not have done, although some cuts have saved money and he did not say what would have replaced them. And finally, he said: Here is what I would have spent over and above what is already being spent.
If I am not mistaken, there was a deficit of $45 billion and a debt of $550 billion, and I believe he would make things worse. If I misunderstood, I am waiting to be corrected.
The second thing he mentioned that I object to are user fees. I never heard anyone on this side of the House mention such a thing. Why scare people? Why does he pretend that we are studying the matter? In fact, the Minister of Health has said repeatedly "no user fees", so why does he make such a comment? Does he not feel that it is unjust, cruel, maybe a bit dishonest?