Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary seems to have forgotten that the very same finance minister who eschews any responsibility for this recession was quite willing to heap upon himself responsibility for periods of modest growth in the recent past, even though that was contemporaneous with growth in other jurisdictions. One cannot suck and blow at the same time. Either the finance minister was responsible for the growth and the recession, or neither. His parliamentary secretary should make a choice.
The Americans are not doing better than we are. Yes, they may be in a deeper recession because they were the immediate victims of September 11, in the short term, but their labour productivity continues to grow at twice the level of Canada. Their personal disposable incomes continue to grow higher relative to Canada. Their currency continues to trounce our currency under the management of this finance minister.