Mr. Speaker, the member has his facts and figures wrong. As has been pointed out, we would have offered tax relief in 1997 with the return of the $7 billion UI fund. To get to the heart of the matter and how we can say that we want to increase defence spending, we would not waste as much money as the Liberal government wastes on unnecessary items.
I do not have to go very far back to remember a $25 million program where we were giving out free flags to the Canadian public when the people in Bosnia and Croatia did not have the proper clothing to wear. The government wasted $25 million there and sent our military personnel literally having to exchange helmets and flak jackets as one unit was getting on the plane to come home and the other unit was getting off the plane.
I would tell the government that its priority in spending is out of whack 100%, it has been for years, the Canadian public has financed the deficit reduction the government takes claim for, and it is time to return that money to the Canadian public and use the priorities we as the official opposition have suggested to re-fund, for example in defence.