Mr. Speaker, the hon. member said that he was proud of the government's budget, that he was proud it met the deficit target for the first year, and that the budget must be balanced slowly.
If the budget must be balanced slowly, how will the government explain to Canadians in two years when interest payments will have increased from $39 billion a year to $51 billion?
The member for Broadview-Greenwood asked the question a few minutes ago. What will we do when Canada faces federal government interest payments of $50 billion to $60 billion a year? His answer was that we would hold a world meeting like the one held after the second world war to deal with the problem.
Does the hon. member think the problem should be dealt with in a world meeting which may or may not happen? Or, should we face the reality of government overspending and deal with the problem in Canada by setting a definite target for deficit elimination, complete elimination, and meeting it, not just reducing the deficit?