Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to enter the budget debate.
First, I would like to congratulate the Minister of Finance on a job well done. I would like to say to my constituents, welcome to the greatest nation on earth. It is easy for me to say that, simply because we have fulfilled the commitments we made in 1993. At that time we campaigned on restoring fiscal sanity and created a climate of opportunity. When I talk to people across the nation, to consumers, to people in the construction industry, to homeowners, to people who are buying their first car or their first home, they tell me that we have done just that.
We have to continue through a number of other budgets to reduce the deficit to a point where, at least in the next millennium, we will not have to continue to deal with deficits even when there is a downturn in our economy. That is what the finance minister means when he talks about our values. Because of our values we have made tough decisions.
I was here a number of years ago when the Tory government was in power, when the finances of the nation and the government were in rough shape-