Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to know where to begin. It is obvious that the rough edges of his speech were left for the comments period and not for his actual speech. In his speech he kept himself on track and was quite reasonable, but when he stood on comments he began to get a bit sidetracked as to what the budget process was all about.
The committee very carefully listened to witnesses. We were very careful in our own presentation to reflect the interest of Canadians. We can talk about majorities and what the majority said, but we also have in this country a respect for the minority. Groups that appeared before us were very concerned about the programs that were being presented. They asked us to protect the programs.
The job of a government is not only to get on the high horse of a protest movement. It is also very much to bring into focus what a government should be doing in these very difficult times.
I would argue that the approach taken by the majority report was a reasonable approach. We asked the finance minister to go further than he was originally intending to go. Then in January there were increased interest rates and difficulty with the dollar. I believe it is now accepted that actions will have to be as dramatic as they can possibly be.
The opposition critic vacillates between two important points in this debate: between Canadians they are encouraging to fight against a tax increase and international markets that want to be reassured we have our house in order.
If we ask somebody in New York who is concerned about the Canadian budget whether there should be any tax increases, he would argue that we should do anything to get to our target. He would say: "If you are really concerned about what I think, do what you have to do. If it means tax increases, do it and get to your target". Then the Reformers go back to Calgary and say: "Tell them not to raise taxes". The whole strategy is made vulnerable because they are playing a double game and they know they are playing a double game. Somebody on the floor of the House of Commons should call them on that.