Mr. Speaker, I do not want to give my colleague a lecture on economics but, before eliminating the debt, we have to get rid of the deficit.
I think most Canadians who listen to this speech or who will read it in Hansard tomorrow will know that. The comparison that nees to be made is this: What is the point of discussing old debts if we still have not paid off the new debt? The first thing to do is to eliminate the deficit. We have reduced it, and we have done this
well. The next step is to eliminate it. After that, of course, we will start paying off the debt.
The hon. member raised an issue I had forgotten to mention. We have been told in recent days that beginning next year the deficit of Canada will be, in terms of its gross domestic product, the lowest of the seven most industrialised countries in the world. The lowest. In other words, we have a better record than the other six members of the G-7.