Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his comments. I do not think he can give me any lessons in mathematics on things I already know and that is obviously that deficits occur by the very fact that more money is spent than is brought in.
The essence of the member's question is that he does not seem to have been sitting in this place for too long or maybe he has been away. The reality is that there are significant reductions in government expenditures. The Western Grain Transportation Act will affect his constituents. The Atlantic freight subsidies have been eliminated. There have been substantial changes in attitude toward privatization. Canadian National railway is being privatized. Numbers in the civil service are being reduced. Therefore, the reality is that expenditure reductions are occurring.
The government is taking a balanced approach to this. I do not think it can cut to the point where it would actually push the country back into a recession. The growth rate in the economy right now is somewhere between 3 per cent and 4 per cent which increases government revenues. Therefore, it is a balanced approach between expenditure reductions and, at the same time, attempting to get the economy to grow.
The Reform Party would take a slash and burn approach so that the 3 per cent figure would turn into a recession and everybody in the country would be back on the unemployment lines.