There is one thing I need an answer to because the vast majority of the Canadian public, 58 per cent, 74 per cent in Atlantic Canada and 68 per cent in Ontario, think that the government is doing a very good job in meeting its projections and commitments in the red book.
The member for Capilano may have a degree from Yale. I do not know if its standards were lower than what I thought it was when I went through university but he clearly just does not get it.
When the government came to office my understanding was that the operating balance was about $4 billion in the hole. The government of the day was spending $4 billion more than it was
taking in. The borrowing requirement that year was almost $30 billion and $4 billion was the operating deficit.
If I read the documents that were tabled in the House correctly and if I understand the borrowing authority properly I do not think the numbers lie. I know that sometimes people in the House try to misconstrue these numbers but they seem to be clear.
I ask the secretary of state if it is true that we have reversed the operating deficit from 1993-94 of $4 billion and that the operating surplus is now $16.8 billion because of the policies of the government? It is projected-and we meet our projections, so nobody should question them-for 1997-98 that it will be a $35 billion surplus in the operating account and that the actual financial requirements will have diminished to $6 billion.
If that is true does it mean in effect that the financial requirements have been shaved by almost $24 billion in only two and a half years of managing the economy?