Mr. Speaker, I would ask the hon. member, who is a former economist with the Royal Bank, to check the forecasts that we have been releasing every year for the past five years, a few months before the end of the fiscal year. He will see that we have nothing to hide and that our forecasts were released in the context of a press conference.
If we have been able to accurately estimate surpluses, it is because, contrary to the hon. member, we had nothing to hide. We analyzed public finances year after year and month after month. With a bit of intelligence and a little less intellectual laziness, the hon. member could do like us every year and manage to be accurate in his forecasts.
If he is not intellectually lazy, I would ask the hon. member to give us his own estimation of the federal government's surpluses for this year and next year.
We will see if he can use a calculator and if, as the member for Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière said, he was not forced to leave the Royal Bank because he was unable to make accurate forecasts.