Mr. Speaker, I listened to the critique of the member for St. Albert. It reminds me of the difficulty the Reform Party seems to have with how government revenues are generated. It is a fairly simple phenomenon that as the economy grows and expands, which Canada's economy has been doing with great strength, and as new jobs are created, which has been happening in Canada with more than 1.4 million new jobs since 1993, there is more income in the economy and more income taxes are payable. It is a sign of a good economy. It is not the sign of a bad economy.
The members opposite seem to be challenged with this very simple concept. I want to remind the House that gross tax revenues are up because the economy is growing.
I would like to briefly comment on one item and perhaps the member opposite could answer. The member for St. Albert was in Australia recently attending a conference on budget cutting and expenditure reduction. Given the fact that our expenditure to GDP is the lowest in about 30 or 40 years, what new ideas did he come away with after his visit to that jurisdiction?