Mr. Speaker, I actually did listen to the hon. member's speech, unlike frequently when members stand and say that they listened carefully. I actually did listen and I thought her speech was long on rhetoric and short on substance, no pun intended.
There is hardly any program that the NDP does not fall in love with, want to have a long term relationship with and spend taxpayers' money. I cannot quite get over this whole misunderstanding of how the budgetary process works. This is a bill that deals with surplus. We on this side of the House admit to a bias of balance. We want to have balanced budgets. We have had eight balanced budgets in a row. We want to have five more balanced budgets in a row.
Because we have that bias to balance, whenever the year end comes, the greater likelihood is that we will be in surplus rather than in deficit. We will be in surplus. If we are going to be in surplus and we are biased toward surplus and toward balance, then we should have some plan to respond to that surplus. That is what this bill is all about. It is a response to anticipated surpluses. It is not the budget process. The budget process is entirely different. The budget is presented by the Minister of Finance and it is debated here in the House. It is debated at committee. It comes back to the House.
The hon. member mischaracterized the whole thing. I do not understand what the hon. member has against balance. I do not understand what she has against transparency. I do not understand what she has against accountability. I do not really understand why she hates taxpayers. I do not know why she wants to burden future generations with debt. The speech, frankly, was incoherent.