Madam Speaker, I wanted to ask my colleague two questions. How would my colleague explain the fact that Canadians generally and the business community in particular have been extremely supportive of the budget and have also supported the initiative of reducing the deficit at 3 per cent of GDP?
I heard some comments that were not supportive of the government's initiatives with respect to the civil service. Could my colleague tell the House what the Reform Party's options are in reducing the civil service?
Would it provide an early departure initiative, an early retirement initiative? Would it permit counselling? Would it provide other types of assistance such as working with communities for the creation of jobs?
If it is yes, how can he be critical? He should jump up and applaud.