Exactly. That is what I was going to say. It is not such a long time to a lot of Canadians. Canadians can remember back to balanced budgets. Canadians can remember back to a time when, even though wages were substantially lower, they had a lot more of their income at their disposal at the end of the day.
The hon. member for Durham went on to say that he came here to improve the financial situation. He spoke in glowing terms of how he was so proud of the Liberal record over the past 3.5 years. The budget we are talking about in Bill C-93 is the fourth budget since the Liberals came to power following the 1993 election. He spoke as though he was quite proud.
I wonder if Canadians watching the debate today are equally proud of another $111 billion worth of debt. The Liberals do not talk about that. They do not talk about the fact that interest on the debt is by far the single largest expenditure for the federal government and for taxpayers.
When we talk about the federal government it is important to understand there is only one taxpayer in the country. One person is paying the bill. Some seem to operate under an illusion in this place. They are insulated. They think the government is providing these services and programs. They turn to government to look for direction and for hope for the future when in reality it is the people of the country who are providing all this for themselves. Sometimes the old parties seem to forget this fundamental fact.
The Liberal member for Huron-Bruce talked about two of the goals the Liberals had when they were elected in 1993. It was job growth and controlling the deficit. Once again the hon. member, as did his previous colleagues, spoke in glowing terms of how far we have come.