Mr. Speaker, every chance he gets, our colleague, the Minister of National Defence, says the Conservative Party, always the Conservative Party, is the one responsible for everything that is wrong.
There are some things that need to be remembered, if one wants to be objective. For instance, the matter of the debt, which will take but a few seconds. Let us talk about the period from 1970 to 1984. In 1970, the debt stood at some $15 to $18 billion. The Liberals multiplied it tenfold. By the time we took office in 1984, the debt had reached $200 billion. Instead of multiplying it by 11, we doubled it. That is a considerable slowdown.
At the time, however, we knew the deficit had to be controlled, so we adopted tax reform measures. Moreover, free trade, against which you voted, has freed up considerably more money to reduce the deficit.
I would like to ask the minister, since his choices are supposedly always the wisest possible, how it happens that, having suspended the helicopter purchase contract, negotiated at the time for $33 million, he is now bragging about the same purchase, but at $40 million plus, without considering that there was absolutely nothing set aside for R&D, and nothing for maintenance.
How can they pay 20% to 25% more for helicopters and try to convince us that the wait was worthwhile, after spending $600 million? How can he claim that it was worth the wait, and then try to boast to us about the purchase?