Mr. Speaker, the Government of Quebec has announced it will balance its budget by the year 2000, joining the chorus of responsible provincial governments which have either balanced their budgets or announced a plan to do so.
Why is the federal government conspicuously absent from the Team Canada initiative?
If Canadians judge the strength of their governments and their finance ministers by their ability to stop going further into debt, this government and finance minister must be regarded as the most weak-kneed of the bunch.
After two and a half years the federal government has failed to balance its budget as have provinces like Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick. It has not even announced a plan to eliminate the deficit, as have all the remaining provinces.
On this basis it is now clear the federal government is the only distinct society in Canada. Even more leadership threatens the financial security of ordinary Canadians, other levels of government and future generations that will inherit a staggering debt.