Mr. Speaker, the federal government balanced its books by slashing transfers to the provinces by forcing the provinces with the constitutionally enshrined responsibility to provide the health care and education to Canadians, face deficits, and health care systems and education systems in a crisis as a result of the its inability and irresponsibility to actually tighten its own belt more significantly.
The fact is the only reason the government has had any ability to be out of deficit today is because of the transfers of the responsibilities to the provinces and the vision, foresight and wisdom of the previous government. The previous government not only reduced the deficit from 9% to 5% of GDP, but had the courage to implement a free trade agreement that his party fought against. It implemented a GST that now collects almost $30 billion per year that his party opposed and now embraces. It deregulated financial services, transportation and energy, and laid the groundwork which allowed his government to be on cruise control on a Sunday drive for 10 years and not do anything to earn its stripes.
We are now starting to see the impact of 10 years of a lackadaisical, Sunday drive, no vision government with Canadians concerned about the future. The government, having run out of ideas of any sort, is reverting to 70s style spending policies that put us in the mess in the first place.