Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is right. Under no circumstances would I denounce the finance minister in the giving of this speech. Maybe the member should have read my speech from last year when I was somewhat critical of the budget. As the hon. member well knows, I am not above criticizing when criticizing is appropriate on this side of the House.
Having said that, there is nothing more pathetic than a question that asks who should take credit on the issue of bracket creep. The issue of bracket creep has been around since it was introduced by previous governments. In fact, this is the first occasion that we could meaningfully address bracket creep because this is the first occasion that we have had a meaningful surplus.
For the hon. member's information, he should note that bracket creep plus the upping of the basic threshold to $8,000 is going to cost the government slightly less than $3 billion on an annual basis. Simple math tells us that this was the first and only occasion the minister could have addressed that issue. That is the first answer to the hon. member's questions. The essential issue is that we have had deficits for a long time, unless the hon. member has missed this. This is the first meaningful surplus we have had.
On the issue of health care, if the hon. member will recall, the budget last year was in some respects the health care budget in which $3.5 billion was put into the health care system and directly into the hands of the health care ministers. It meant a significant sum of money in Ontario. Forty per cent of $3.5 billion is a significant sum of money. In addition, on the cap on CAP, the province of Ontario received a further $1 billion, a significant sum of money. Does the member know how much money has hit the ground in my riding? Zero. Precisely nothing.
There is this huge whine from the other premiers saying “Give us more money”. What did they do with the last bit of money? Nothing.