Mr. Speaker, let me point out a small mistake my colleague from Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot made when he said that the finance minister had his hand pressed to his heart when he talked about his deep compassion for the destitute. To me, it looked more like it was hovering over his pocketbook, or more precisely over the financial interests of the friends of the government in order to protect their pocketbooks. That is how it looked to me.
Also, during the speech made by one of the members opposite, I heard a statement which is frankly beginning to try my patience. We keep hearing that Canada is the best country in the world. I am sorry, but enough is enough.
This reminds me of a family which was earning a lot of money fifteen or twenty years ago. Without thinking, they bought a beautiful house, a second home, a nice car for the husband, a nice car for his wife, but in these hard times, they find themselves crippled with debts. Everyone keeps saying that the
owners live in the most beautiful house in town, that they are the richest people in the area, when in fact, behind this facade, the owners have to scimp on child care and sacrifice their children's education in order to pay their debts. So, this best country in the world is just a facade behind which we can hardly afford child care.