Mr. Speaker, what is painfully left out of the hon. member's question is the fact that if the Reform Party had its way, if Canadians actually let it in through the democratic process, it would not be a question of cutting billions of dollars out of health care. It would be a question of when and how fast would it eliminate health care and have it just completely a user pay based system.
Let us be very clear about a couple of points. This is the party whose leader stood in Atlantic Canada some two or three years ago and said that when it comes to the fishery it has been such a boondoggle and expense on taxpayers “let's take 10 seconds and tell Atlantic Canadians that it is over”.
Today the Atlantic fisheries are producing more in terms of gross domestic product than they were 10 years ago. The value of exports are double. Our economy is growing. This is a party that continually would abandon Atlantic Canada given the opportunity, but we will not let them have the opportunity.
Health care is a prime concern of Canadians. Everybody in the House knows that unless we did something about our fiscal house in Canada there would not be any question of how much would we have to cut from health care or education, or any other program today. It would be how we would deal with the destruction of all social programs in Canada.
It gives me no joy to admit there were cuts to social programs. When a $42 billion deficit is eliminated it is not possible to turn to a neighbour and say it is okay because it is very important to eliminate a $42 billion deficit. It is important that the Government of Canada not spend $42 billion a year more than it takes in. When the question is asked whether that means we should cut $42 billion in government programs and services, they do not have an answer.
We rebuilt the economy and our ability to fund health care and education programs while at the same time trimmed our deficit to a responsible level. Now we are seeing a dividend from that. We are seeing a reinvestment into health care and education. We are seeing it on a very stable platform: one where there will be no further cuts in the future, one that will see Canadians have stable fiscal arrangements in the future, and one that builds upon a very much stronger Canada. That is a Canada that the Reform Party does not understand.