Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my friend, the hon. member for Dartmouth, a few questions. I had the opportunity to take a trip with him to Japan, during which we had long discussions. Despite that opportunity, I was still a little surprised to see that he was so proud and happy today, and so impressed with the Minister of Finance's budget.
I fail to see how anyone could be proud, for example, to say that most of the deficit reduction measures will be achieved by offloading the problem onto the provinces. Responsibility for a large part of the federal deficit will be squarely put on the province's shoulders. For example, the Minister of Finance says that Quebec will receive almost $7 billion less from the federal government, which will, of course, continue to tax Quebecers as much as ever.
How can he be proud to see that, in two years' time, Canada will have tacked on another $50 billion to its debt? How can he be proud of that? How can the hon. member for Dartmouth be proud to see that, in two years, Canada's accumulated debt will have climbed to $611 billion? How could we be proud of that? This does not make me in the least bit proud. Therefore, I would simply like the hon. member to answer my question.
Instead of making fiery speeches, he may be better advised to come down from the clouds and realize that, in two years, Canada will obviously have to collect more income tax and impose other taxes. The country will give much less to its citizens, since the interest payments on the debt alone will be at least $50 billion. How could we possibly be proud of that?