Mr. Speaker, I was listening to the member's comments and was not sure whether he was going back to the future to the Brian Mulroney days when he was talking about mismanagement and debt.
The member and the Bloc said the same thing and I want to respond to that. He suggested that there is a fiscal imbalance. There is no evidence of a fiscal imbalance, number one. Number two, the provinces have the same ability to raise taxes as the government does. The difference is we balanced our books first before we brought in the $100 billion tax cuts. The provinces, by and large, brought in tax cuts and then expected us to pay for it. The fiscal imbalance is a myth. I would have expected more from this particular member.
The member does not talk about the fact that the government is paying down the national debt, the only G-7 country to do so, 44.5% of GDP.
If we are, as the member said, a junk bond government, how is that we are able to reduce taxes, reduce the national debt, and provide services that Canadians ask for, that they need, and that we respond to in this country.
I would like to hear what the member has to say about that because clearly the member did not talk about the financial record of this government. I would suggest that the member was perhaps reflecting on his past Conservative government and that is where the confusion lies.