Mr. Speaker, I have a comment and a question.
I am not surprised at the political rhetoric of the member for Kings—Hants. We know there is an ongoing election in Nova Scotia. He tried to almost belittle the current premier of Nova Scotia for supposedly not having spoken out on the budget.
Let me tell the hon. member that I was very proud to sit in the last caucus with Russell MacLellan as a member from the province of Nova Scotia. If anyone stood up for Atlantic Canada, Russell MacLellan did. We as a government had to make hard decisions left to us because of the legacy of the former Mulroney Tory government. As the Minister of Finance said the other day, we took over a $42 billion deficit and we have managed to bring it down to what it is today.
Let me say again that Russell MacLellan as a member fought hard in terms of trying to retain an employment insurance program which would be of benefit to the people of Cape Breton and throughout Nova Scotia.
I think the member has to look at the progress which we have made. For heaven's sake, he must admit that we got rid of the 3% surtax which the former Tory government implemented to deal with the deficit but did not. Can he not see that this budget is—