Mr. Speaker, I was going to say something, but I thought the jousting between the two parties on the right was more appropriately described as the reason why they are both on that side of the House and the reason they are going to remain on that side of the House.
I would like to congratulate the member on his new elevation in terms of this very significant, very important work he is going to be undertaking on the committee. But it seems to me that like his brethren and friends and, I guess, former political alliances in the Reform Party, they too have not only a case of amnesia but do not understand their own policies that they have articulated in the past.
The hon. member will know that the motion today is being presented by a member whose party, in a very short period of time, has gone from zero in three to the taxpayers budget, a fresh start, securing your future, yadda, yadda, yadda.
The point is that party has really not got it right yet. It is one of the reasons it is not on this side of the House and the Canadian public understands that very well.
I want to deal with the question and the comments that were raised by the hon. member in his defence of Brian Mulroney, and perhaps a bit of advice. If he drops that, he might find himself a bit more successful in the long run because the Canadian people, as we know, are always right. They full well know that in terms of the budget and in terms of the situation this government inherited in 1993, the $42 billion deficit was something that was accelerated by his government and the person he is now praising. That is a problem we inherited, it is a problem we are dealing with, and I think we are dealing with it very successfully as adjudged by the Canadian people last year.
In the last election the Conservative Party seemed to have a bit of trouble with its platform. It suggested that one-third, once we achieved the point of reducing or removing or eliminating the deficit, would ultimately be spent on tax reduction. The rest was sort of put toward the balanced budget approach, the balancing of the ultimate deficit.
Perhaps the hon. member could clarify, since it seems that there is a huge contradiction in his statement. The hon. member is so concerned about the outcome of young people and students in this country who are engaged in education, particularly in his region. I can assure him that there are universities right across this country.
Could the hon. member perhaps illustrate to us the conflict, the problem he sees in saying that we are going to reduce the deficit, reduce the debt, give people all this tax money back and achieve the objective of higher education? How does he do it when he has increased the burden on ordinary Canadians, as evidenced by his friend, Brian Mulroney?