Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to do that. Let me start with health care which is the first item that the member raised.
In 1993 we saw a fairly high level of cash transfers going to the provinces in order to fund health care, but after the 1995 budget when the government realized that it was in straitened financial circumstances, it decided to cut. Did it cut the grants and subsidies that it used to curry favour with certain political groups? No, it cut the heart out of health care to the point where we have a crisis in terms of funding health care in many provinces today. The government deserves to be called to account when it comes to what it has done with health care.
In terms of the military, we have seen a dramatic cut to Canada's military. Many Canadians would argue that the Canadian military was reduced to the point where it simply could not do the job that was being asked of it. We were still sending people around the world to engage in peacekeeping missions. The heart was cut out of the Canadian military.
To be fair, and I see the minister is here, the Liberals have put some money back in but it is nowhere near where it needs to be. I think even the minister would acknowledge that. Why is that? Because government is all about making choices and the government continues to choose to fund patronage and pork barrel type programs ahead of other priorities including critical ones like the defence of the Canadian public, one of the highest priorities of any government.
In terms of infrastructure and highways, there is no question we have seen a deterioration which is sad when we consider that Canada depends so much on our ability to trade. Some 43% of our GDP comes from exports from trade and 87% of that is with the United States. We have not seen the type of investment in infrastructure, both to the borders and at the borders, that is needed to facilitate the type of trade that we should have.
I would argue that the government has missed many opportunities and I have just alluded to some of them.