Mr. Speaker, one of the nice things about this place of debate is that semi-occasionally we settle down and start talking about things in a rational way and putting forward our views.
I want to say publicly—and I know it is a little risky for me to do this—that I have a lot of respect for the member who has just spoken. He does a fine job in articulating his views. I do not necessarily agree with those views, but he has a fine way of explaining them and communicating them. I would like to commend the member on that.
I have a question for him with respect to the grand scheme of things. I grew up in Saskatchewan. That is the home of what is now the NDP. I remember it when I was a youngster as the CCF, the Canadian Commonwealth Federation. I remember well listening to Tommy Douglas on the radio when I was a kid, as my dad did. Dad has never told me this, but I would not be a bit surprised if from time to time he voted NDP. I know there are a lot of people in my riding who used to vote NDP and finally saw the light and voted Reform.
This member seems to have a good perspective because of his years as a legislator, as an MP and as a good thinking person. Exactly what does he think about the nature of our debt?
If we look back 25 years we had no debt. Now one-third of our government expenditures goes toward paying interest on the debt. The member said that we should not be too radical in cutting the debt. Yet the fact of the matter is that we could increase our spending on programs and on things we value by 50% if we did not have the interest payments.
Would the member expand a bit on the whole concept of debt and interest payments and what that does to the country?