Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I accept the criticism. I am doing my best.
Let me go on to talk about the Conservatives. I want to have fun with them because their arguments are the most ridiculous. The Conservatives have made the argument that it is fiscally imprudent for the NDP better balanced budget to pass.
Yet, as has already been said on the floor of the House today, and it bears repeating, on June 13 at the finance committee meeting, the Comptroller General of Canada made the point that the appropriations bill, as it is formed, meaning the wording that is in it, is enabling legislation and is just like every other piece of budget legislation that has come into this place, whether it was a Liberal budget or a Conservative budget. Get off that point, I say to the Conservatives. They need better arguments.
The Comptroller General also said this was fiscally prudent because it guaranteed that there had to be $2 billion in surplus before the $4.6 billion is triggered. That was deemed to be fiscally prudent by the Comptroller General of Canada.
Let us make no mistake about it. When the leader of the federal New Democratic Party entered into these negotiations, yes, the expenditures were without a doubt foremost on our minds. Sure, we were led by our heart, no question about it, but the leader of the New Democratic Party also made sure that there were no tax increases, that the tax cuts for small and medium sized business remained, because we do support that concept, and that there would still be paydown on the debt.