Mr. Speaker, I have a brief question, one that needs to be answered very honestly.
He said the total budgetary requirement for the government is some $164 billion this year, an increase of $2 billion over last year. We need to commend the government for spending less than it could have, possibly less than governments of previous years would have spent. However, while we are experiencing all the cuts in the estimates we are debating today, we are spending more because of our huge interest payments. Those interest payments are growing every year because we are still borrowing.
I ask the member whether he acknowledges at all and if so to what degree that there is urgency in balancing the budget so hopefully we do not totally go down the tube. As has already been mentioned, the three year budgetary plan of the government adds $100 billion to the present $550 billion debt.