Mr. Speaker, last night I had the opportunity to review the base closures on television. The Chilliwack base is being closed which I understand is part of the member's riding.
There is not a member of Parliament on this side of the House who did not feel the pain that was expressed on that show last night. That is why many of us on this side of the House for the last few months have been trying to communicate to the opposition, to the Reform Party that we should not just be talking about the federal deficit. We should be talking about the human deficit.
What bothers me is that the debate has not expanded beyond the deficit in traditional terms. We have to figure out what we are going to do in the long term. Not only our country but other countries around the world have been faced with fluctuating interest rates. Capital is being pushed around by people who are shorting their own currencies and playing with derivatives and everything else. We as one nation in the G-7 are almost victims of this international game which is being played.
I wish that with the Reform Party members we could expand this debate. Let us not just think about the budget and the tough decisions we have had to make on this side. Make no mistake, we feel the cuts on this side as much as they do. I would venture to say many of us feel them even more. As Liberals it goes against the very grain and soul that brought us to this place, whereas the Reformers seem to be much more conditioned to deep cuts regardless of the human side of it.
Would the member be willing when we return after question period, along with his other colleagues, to maybe enter into a debate on a new and improved Bretton Woods agreement? We should start looking at what we can do to change interest rates, not just for Canada but for all the world. At the rate we are going it is not just Canada that is in trouble. It is the whole world.