Mr. Speaker, I noted in the statement by the President of the Treasury Board that he says: "What I have just said shows that we didn't shy away from tough decisions" and "this government is committed to fiscal responsibility".
The government thinks it is just a case of more taxes, more taxes, more taxes. Then it says: "We're going to do some cutting all across the board". However, on looking at the estimates we find the spending of the government is going up again for the second year in a row. Of course the previous government did it every year before that.
Every year spending goes up. The government says it is cutting. It is cutting the programs it delivers to the people of Canada because the amount of interest paid on the national debt is getting out of control. That is why when we add the two together, spending goes up.
Let us get the job done. Let us get the budget balanced and let us stop the growth of interest during the first three years of this Liberal government. It is going to cut services to Canadians from $120 billion down to $108 billion. However the interest on the debt will go from $38 billion to $51 billion, which more than offsets all the cuts that are going to be made. That situation is going to continue. Spending will go up and services to Canadians will go down.