Mr. Speaker, in his mini budget last fall, the Minister of Finance estimated that the surplus would reach $11.9 billion in 2000-01. He added that the government was undertaking to pay down a minimum of $10 billion in debt in 2000-01.
But, this week we learned that the real surplus could reach $18 billion, $6 billion more than forecast.
Are we to understand that the Minister of Finance's intention is to use the additional $6 billion to pay down the debt?