Mr. Speaker, the member pointed out total spending by the government has gone up and yet program spending has gone down, which means Canadians are squeezed. We are delivering less program money to Canadians while we are transferring more and more money to the lenders. Transfer to lenders has become the biggest transfer program the government has.
The member talked about maintaining the viability of our social programs. I am concerned about the conundrum there. As the government spends less and less money on social programs surely that would destroy the viability of social programs. He seems to be taking some credit in maintaining the viability of social programs.
While the deficit continues and while we are continuing to add to the debt, which means interest costs are continuing to go up andtherefore program spending will continue to go down, how does the member intend to maintain the viability of social programs?