Mr. Speaker, as I listened to the various Liberal members who have spoken about this marvellous budget of theirs today only one thought comes to my mind, they do not understand fundamental arithmetic.
The Canadian people, the taxpayers, who have been funding all these programs that previous governments have put in based on election promises and credit card funding, have been saying that overspending has to stop. They want to see a balanced budget down the road. They want to see some tax relief down the road.
This red ink budget that the Liberals have delivered by 1997 will add another $100 billion to the debt and will increase the interest payments on that debt to some $51 billion to $52 billion. Can they not get it straight? It is the mountainous debt and the
mountainous interest payments on that debt that are ripping the heart out of the social safety net of the country.
It is not enough today to nibble at the edges of overspending. We need a positive, progressive plan to decrease the deficit to a zero budget. That is what the Canadian people want. They will not get it from the government. It has not been listening to them.