Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's question is very well placed given that there has been much concern about health care. Another area that he and his party are concerned about is defence spending.
The Canadian Alliance has been very careful when it comes to how to instruct the government on where to spend money. We have been vigilant about telling the Liberals that they should have a balanced approach when it comes to tax reduction and debt reduction. That clearly has to happen. It is something Canadians are still asking for across the country. We need very targeted spending.
My colleague asked about two areas in which Canadians are expecting big things from the government. I do not know whether they will get it, but Canadians are expecting big things from the government in the next budget in the areas of health care and defence. Those are two areas where the government has slashed spending over the time that it has been in power.
Unfortunately, we are seeing the repercussions in health care, namely in provinces that are being forced to restructure in radical ways because the funding is not there. The 50% relationship in funding between the provinces and the federal government has dropped down to a level where the contribution is 14% or 15%. This has left the provinces in dire situations when it comes to how to administer health care.
The other area is defence. We have seen our armed forces stretched to the max when it comes to the jobs that not only Canadians but many people around the world rely on them to do when it comes to peacekeeping and getting involved with our allies in various military actions. Our troops are some of the best in the world. Unfortunately, they have been undermined by the government's mismanagement.
Those are two areas that we encourage the government to take a little more seriously when it comes to the next budget.