Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Elk Island for such an interesting speech. I would like to expand slightly on one of his points. It has to do with the size of the debt. The fact is that even after all these years of Liberal government and the claims of fiscal responsibility the debt is still larger than when the Liberals took office. Taxpayers are still paying $40 billion a year in interest.
My colleague talked about the examples he uses when he speaks at high schools. There is one in the Vancouver area that I use to illustrate the size of this $40 billion debt and what it really means. It is fairly well known that right at the moment the Lions Gate bridge is under reconstruction. To build a brand new Lions Gate bridge would cost about $200 million. Canada could build 200 brand new Lions Gate bridges every year with $40 billion.