Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question.
The Devine government made promises about fiscal responsibility and when it became government it was irresponsible. We saw the same thing happen with the Mulroney government. There is no doubt that these traditional old line governments like we have on the Liberal side of the House make these promises and they feel quite happy to break them.
That is the reason the Reform party is here. In 1983 when westerners voted for the Mulroney government it made a promise that it would get the deficit and spending under control. The Tories promised us they would do it and they did not. They got into government. They lost their nerve and went on the usual tax and spend. Liberal-Tory, same old story. They were all the same. That is one of the reasons the Reform party came into being. We were the ones who made it fashionable to get government spending under control.
Nobody can deny that in 1988 and 1993 in the election campaign material we had information on digging the debt hole, everything was focused on making governments become responsible. Reform needs to take all the credit for what has happened from coast to coast across this country.
I hear the Liberal members across praising what the government has achieved. Those same members a decade ago were saying exactly the opposite. We have managed to convince everybody in this country, every level of government, that we cannot have good social programs, prosperity, good employment levels and low taxes unless we have government spending under control.
We will say one thing for the Liberals. It is well known that they always follow the trend and Reform managed to push them into some fiscal responsibility.
In answer to the member, like him, I condemn the Devine government for what it did. I condemn the Mulroney government for what it did and that is why Reform came into being.