Mr. Speaker, the latest financial review reveals a surplus of over $10 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year.
However, last month, the Minister of Finance was maintaining his harebrained prediction of zero budget surplus for 1998-99.
Will the minister confirm that by so shamelessly hiding the surpluses, his plan for them is to apply them all to the debt, since under accounting rules all unplanned surpluses must be applied to the debt?