Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary mentioned the tax reductions in the budget as being larger tax cuts than what were in the last two budgets of the Liberal government.
She failed to mention that in 2000 the Liberal government introduced and implemented the largest tax cut in Canadian history of $100 billion. That was focused at income tax reductions which every serious economist in this country has said is the way that we should proceed, that if we are going to reduce taxes, we should reduce income taxes. The Conservative government has decided to reduce the GST because it is politically expedient.
The member also failed to acknowledge the economic performance under the Liberal government. She was not very gracious in her remarks about that. I wonder if she would reflect upon that and recall that during our Liberal government tenure we had consistent economic growth of 3% per year. We introduced and implemented the largest tax cut in Canadian history. We paid down $55 billion in debt. We eliminated a $42 billion deficit. The economy produced the lowest level of unemployment in Canada's history in the last 40 or 50 years.
I am wondering if the member has forgotten those particular elements because we hear often about the last 12 or 13 years of the Liberal mandate.
Maybe the member could acknowledge those in her remarks when she replies, but if she does not, I wonder if she would comment on the two year horizon that the government is working on in terms of its fiscal plan. Is that because the Conservatives do not really want to outline for Canadians what their plan is beyond that? Certainly the press and very good analysts are speculating that another $20 billion in cuts are coming from the government. I am wondering where those cuts are going to come from and is that the reason the current government is on a two year horizon instead of a five year planning horizon?