Mr. Speaker, the budget of the Government of Canada is in very strong shape. I am very pleased to tell the House that since we balanced the books for the first time in 1997, after 27 years of deficit financing, we have in fact risen to the very top of the G-7 in terms of growth rates in standard of living, job creation and employment, and debt reduction.
We are the only country in all of the G-7 that in fact has a balanced budget, has had one for the last seven years and will have one for the next five in the fiscal framework. This is not an elastic budget. It is a very strong budget.