Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the input from all members as we continue this debate.
I am puzzled with the position of the Reform Party. In their platform Reformers talked about tax reductions but not starting until the year 2000. We would not have had any tax cuts at all. The Liberal government has already implemented tax cuts of 10%.
In their platform they talk about a tax cut package that in the third year of their proposal would cost the federal treasury $26 billion. They also talk about an equal amount against paying down the debt. That is $26 billion in year three for tax cuts and $26 billion for paying down the debt. If my arithmetic is correct, that is $52 billion. When I look at the document released by the finance minister a month ago and the surpluses projected forward by 11 of Canada's leading economists, it shows that in year three the surplus would be at a level of $12.5 billion.
Then the other Reform member was talking about increased expenditure on defence. Other members of the Reform Party have talked about increased expenditures on farm income relief. How does the arithmetic add up? How does this package fit?