Madam Speaker, I listened intently to the hon. member for Peace River and I appreciate some of his comments and the work he has done in his riding.
On a number of the issues I am not sure it was very clear whether he understood that for every $7 of expenditure reduction there was only $1 of tax balancing out that went into the budget. I am not sure whether he appreciated that expenditures had been cut over time and that working on the deficit is a prime concern and then working on the debt.
As he mentioned, a number of people were affected in his riding with the cuts. That is part of the expenditure cuts by the
government. Is it his view that the cuts should have been harder on the people or that we are going in the right direction and we have to take care of the deficit before there is any impact on the debt?
By having this planned approach allows people to adjust. I am concerned by the hon. member's remarks of cutting more. Does that give people and businesses enough time to adjust?