Mr. Speaker, the member for Ottawa West has been accusing us for a while now of not knowing our own program, of not being familiar with the issues. We are not, however, speaking only of the aerospace industry, but rather of defence conversion in our opposition motion. A while ago, I asked a question about DIPP budgets and she replied-this is not really an accusation-that she did not have all the figures.
I would simply remind her that, as the result of our efforts, the budget has been cut 66 per cent over the past two years, a two thirds reduction. Moreover, we plan to bring it down from $220 million to $24 million for 1997-98. So, I am reminding her of the figures. At the same time, the program set out in the Liberal red book indicated that investments in defence conversion would be a priority.
Mr. Speaker, does the member not see a dichotomy between the reality of short-term abolition of DIPP and the red book promise to invest in defence conversion? I am not speaking of Montreal aerospace companies, but of a defence conversion program in conjunction with a promise about the defence industry and a reality.