Mr. Speaker, I can hardly contain my enthusiasm to go after the hon. leader of the Conservative Party.
There is no confusion on the part of this hon. member because I sat on that side of the House from 1988 to 1993 in opposition when this hon. member of the Conservative Party sat on this side of the House, first as secretary of state for fitness and amateur sport and then he moved on—I will not say how. I do not want to get into that today—to become the minister of the environment. That was six months later.
That member sat at a cabinet table, a Conservative cabinet table with his good friend, Brian, at the helm. That hon. member watched as EI premiums went up to $3.20 on their way to $3.30. This hon. member has the unmitigated gall to stand in his place and start accusing this government when that member was in in the best of times, from 1984 to 1993. He sat in this House when the economy was booming, when people were working.
He had the opportunity to do something about the deficit, about the debt, about EI, about CPP and he did nothing, not a damn thing.