Madam Chair, the numbers the hon. member gave are quite correct. When we first looked at the budget of the government, in 1993-94 the revenues were $116 billion. The program spending was $120 billion with an operating deficit of $4 billion. In our first year in office we turned that around to $4.6 billion surplus and we did it by cutting program spending. Program spending fell again in 1995-96 and there was an operating surplus of $16.8 billion.
As the hon. member said, in 1996-97 the projection is a $26 billion operating surplus and in 1997-98 a $35 billion operating surplus. The financial requirements for the coming fiscal year are only $13.7 billion. Next year when I bring these numbers to the House the amount will drop to $6 billion. Down from $30 billion to $6 billion in that length time is a remarkable achievement.