Madam Speaker, the hon. member probably understands that when one has young children one actually engages in discussion about mystic knights, Thor and all of the other myths. In fact, when lightning strikes it is actually supposed to be a symbol of good luck, so I would thank the hon. member across the way.
I guess he was taking exception to the point that I was making, in essence saying that the government is not borrowing money to finance these tax cuts. Obviously the Reform Party has some difficulty with that. I could point to some previous platform documents in which the Reform Party indicated that we, the government, should first balance our books before engaging in any sort of tax relief. Obviously today that is not much of an issue because it feels the wind is blowing toward tax relief and that is where we should be going. Regardless of whether we put ourselves back into a deficit position or increase the debt, Reformers are just promoting tax relief for Canadians.
I can only reiterate that in every pre-budget consultation I have participated in Canadians have consistently said they are in favour of tax relief, that they want tax relief, that the burden of personal income taxes is too high, but that they are not prepared to pay the price of a reduction by decreasing the quality of health care or education, or by increasing the deficit or the debt. We very clearly and carefully listened to Canadians and that is demonstrated in the 1998 and 1999 budgets.
I would reiterate that both the 1998 and 1999 budgets, and certainly Bill C-72, represent the starting point for the process of ensuring general tax relief. The 1998 budget started with low and middle income Canadians. The 1999 budget broadened that tax relief to include all Canadians. As we move forward in budgets to come we will continue to provide a very balanced approach, one that includes investing in Canadian priorities, continuing to bring down the tax burden for Canadians and ensuring that we stay in balance.