Madam Speaker, I have a lot of faith in the finance minister of the province of Manitoba. I believe he has done an exceptional job over the last four years. He has balanced his budget for four years. He has not raised any taxes in the province of Manitoba and the economy is doing very well.
The reason I brought my example up was to make sure that the Liberals recognize there are ways of reducing taxes in a budget to make sure the economy is going to be improved.
I would like to quote the finance minister of Manitoba:
Providing Manitobans with the best health care possible has always been and continues to be our top program priority. Stefanson said: “Our funding commitment to health care is 45% or almost $600 million more than we spent in 1987—in contrast to the federal government cutting health transfers 35% in the last three years”.
The proof lies in the pudding. Needless to say the hon. member believes that the federal government is treating provincial governments fairly. That is a head in the sand attitude because I can give the member quotes from every premier and every finance minister who say that is not the case. That is okay, the member can hide his head in the sand.
The hon. member talks about how previous to 1993 the Progressive Conservative government caused the problems for our country with respect to deficits. I talked about the reason why the deficit now no longer exists. It is because of policies that were put in place in 1991-93. I can also say that I remember the Trudeau years when deficits and debt were the trademark of the day. If we want to talk about who put Canadians into this debt and deficit position, they have to look no further than their own history.