Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary makes it too easy. He parrots what the minister says regarding $25 billion in cuts. A decade ago, the minister was saying this: “We should...begin the overdue process of cutting government spending”.
In October of 1994, the minister said, “I urge the government to come to grips...and to move ahead with serious cuts”. The minister said this a decade ago. We gave them $20 billion in cuts. After we brought in the reduction program, the minister stood in this House in December of 1995 and said that “we are going to have to cut a lot deeper”.
Now they say, “Oh, it was the cuts. Back then we were not cutting enough”. That is the hypocrisy of this government. It does not stand up for students. We do not tax-cut our way to an education. We invest in an education.
I ask the parliamentary secretary to put away the departmental speaking notes and give us an honest answer. Will you reinvest in the millennium scholarship foundation?