Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was right. He did hear that 40% of my constituents advocated debt reduction but I also stated very clearly that no one in my riding suggested that debt reduction should be the government's singular priority. Most people felt that we were now in a position to reduce debt, address social needs and cut taxes.
There were three approaches and three priorities. One perhaps is a little ahead, but no singular one was there alone. We looked at three priorities and that is exactly what this budget addressed.
With respect to the debt repayment, the hon. member has said that we do not have any plans at all to reduce the debt but that is not the case at all. We have reduced the debt by $6 billion. In fact yesterday in his speech the Minister of Finance also noted that market debt, the debt which is issued in financial markets, has fallen even further and by the end of this fiscal year we will have reduced it by close to $20 billion. So in fact the plan is in place.
Let us also not forget what the Minister of Finance said yesterday in his opening remarks. We will not abandon our balanced approach, the approach that this government has taken since it was elected to office in 1993. Again we are following what we said we are going to do. We are tackling the main priorities of Canadians but we are doing it in a balanced and comprehensive manner.