I heard somebody say “bingo”. I hope that person will jump up and include that as part of his speech. Finally somebody over there is agreeing with a government initiative.
I go on very briefly. I want to share another quote. It is from Toronto Star columnist David Crane and reads:
It will take more than government programs to build an innovation culture in Canada. But government can provide strong leadership and encouragement by providing funding—and incentives—to stimulate and encourage the innovation process.
These people who are not in opposition or in government are able to say positive things about the government and what it has done.
What does the opposition do? The first opportunity it gets to show that it could be comprehensive, sensitive and respond as a totally responsible opposition it tries to pretend that the government has been irresponsible. It tries to pretend that the spending is not appropriate.
I would love to send this over to my opposition colleagues. It is a compilation of selected quotes on Liberal fiscal policy which I have collected: “Martin has accomplished several important things. He showed that the Liberals are able to balance a chequebook”. They go on to discuss the budget. This is so good and I am terribly sorry I do not have the time to read it.
The other is a compilation of selected quotes on Reform's fiscal policies and this is even better. “The package, fresh start, is infuriatingly vague on identifying specific spending cuts and their timing. Like Bob Dole, Manning runs the risk of a credibility gap on the deficit”. I have several others and I am terribly sorry that I have to stop my remarks now.