Mr. Speaker, we would have another health care need if the hon. member fell off his chair. I would not want to have to carry him out of here. I would not want to see his health impaired by this debate.
I am not quite sure where he gets this business of an $8 billion surplus. I hope it is true, but it is what I call The Globe and Mail surplus, because the numbers that are available in the public domain project a much smaller surplus.
I would remind the hon. member that the Province of Ontario in particular had a serious meltdown in its GDP. Because the Province of Ontario is the most significant province in terms of contributing to federal revenues, when that province has a meltdown in its GDP it affects our revenues. Our GDP fell from 3.5% to 1.7%. When it did that, we actually had to cut into contingency money in order to be able to cover the bills.
This speaks to the point of why we build contingency into our budget: so that in the bad times we have covered off the bills. In the good times if those moneys are not needed, then we use those moneys to pay down the bills. It is a strange concept to the member opposite, but on this side we try to live within our means.
We have succeeded in going from 68% to 44% in terms of percentage of GDP. Frankly I think that is good news. I do not know why the hon. member wants to spend his brains out. We are on the right track. We are the only G-7 nation that is actually going to balance its budget this year. We are the only one in the OECD that is going to carry a modest surplus. I think that is good news and good fiscal management. It addresses the issue of why we can actually contemplate spending $2 billion specifically on health care, Canadians' number one priority.