Mr. Speaker, it is truly amazing to hear all the comments cited by my hon. colleague from Calgary—Nose Hill. I would swear that some of them were probably taken from magazines like the New Republic or perhaps the Fraser Institute or other think tanks whose primary responsibility is to put most ordinary Canadians into the financial dunk tank.
It is very clear to me that all the things cited by the hon. member do not square with the reality that Canada currently enjoys the highest standard of living rated by the United Nations. That is an inescapable fact. No matter what the hon. member wants to posit or what wonderful little fantasies he wants to put forward, the reality is that we are doing pretty well.
The motion today is about the fruits, efforts and undertaking by the government and the Canadian people to reduce the deficit. This debate would not take place if we had not reached the point where we could begin to discuss one day the opportunity of dealing with the fiscal dividend. Clearly hon. colleagues in the Reform Party who have provided the motion today ignored the fact that what we are proposing as government was vindicated and authorized by the Canadian people.
If the Reform Party has a problem with democracy it ought to say so here and now. Given that what we are proposing squares firmly with the election platform we have put forward, what problem do Reformers have with that? If they have a problem with that, perhaps they ought to redefine their definition of democracy.