Mr. Speaker, I sincerely respected the speech we just heard, particularly at the personal level.
Again I would like to state what we are really talking about here, to put it on a proper level of debate, is a different philosophy in arriving at the same goal. The Reform Party is not out to destroy social programs. What the Reform Party sees is the Liberal government, with its present course of action, in the process of destroying the ability to fund social programs.
I hope that the member and I could come to an agreement that we are both out for the same objective but we are attempting to arrive at the solution from different perspectives. I am sure the member is not suggesting that we do not desire to see the social programs not only continue but to be available for people.
With that in mind, I would draw this to his attention. We receive in the House a publication called "Quorum". On page 17 of "Quorum" he was quoting from the Edmonton Journal .
This quote is from the Edmonton Journal of February 18 where the energy minister, who is a member from Alberta, called the Moody's downgrade ``irresponsible''.
"It angers me when we are working very hard to get our fiscal house in order". She said Moody's should have waited until the budget is tabled, "and then if they do not think we have done enough; fine. Then they can let us have it."
"The truly important factor in all of this is that until we deal with our fiscal situation we are going to be held hostage by the Moody's and the others of this world. What they are doing is slowly undermining our sovereignty."
To me, that is a reflection of where Liberal members are coming from. They do not realize that when they look in the mirror and see broccoli on their teeth they should not smash the mirror, there is broccoli on their teeth. The problem in this case is that the Liberal government has been going out of its way to say Moody's is wrong. Moody's happens to be advising all of the people. The Wall Street Journal is wrong. All of these people are wrong and the Liberals are right.
I wonder if the parliamentary secretary would not agree that the remarks we are hearing from Dominion Bond Rating Service, from Moody's, and from all of these other publications are trying to tell us something, that in fact the 3 per cent level that the government has chosen will have the effect of destroying Canada's ability to be able to fund the programs that he and I want to maintain.