Mr. Speaker, the hon. member across the way talks about contradiction. Let us go back six years to 1993 and look at where the finances of the country were at that time. We were running a $42.5 billion deficit. We had close to $600 billion of accumulated public debt. Our government came in and got the financial house of the government back in order. He is right. Cuts were made to amateur sports. Cuts were made to everything to get the government's books back in line. We have done that.
We also promised in the 1997 election that when we started generating surpluses we would start putting the money back in in a strategic fashion. That is exactly what we are doing right now. We are living up to that commitment.