Mr. Speaker, the hon. member in his presentation referred to the Canadian Alliance and said that we have said the government should spend more money. That in fact is absolutely not the case.
We have said that the government should spend more money in certain areas. We have said that overall spending should be lower. We have said that the government has to learn to prioritize spending. That is what we said. Never, never have we said that the government should spend more. We have said prioritize.
We have said let us do something about the wasted spending, grants and contributions. The auditor general pointed to $16 billion in grants and contributions that should be looked at and scrutinized properly. We have said let us end the wasted spending and regional economic development programs right across the country. We have said let us end the low priority spending, such as the spending that is going on now to help fund this leadership race. The industry minister, the health minister and the finance minister are all trying to fund the leadership race through taxpayer money. That is what we saw this time: the Prime Minister allocating the money to leadership contenders, saying that he wants to do it as fairly as he can. That is not a proper expenditure of taxpayer money.
I would like to ask the member if he understands now that clearly never has the Canadian Alliance asked for more spending. We have asked for prioritized spending. We have asked for more spending in health care, in security and in education. We have asked for a balanced budget. In no case should we start running deficits again. That is what we--