Mr. Speaker, first let me offer my congratulations to the member for Portage—Lisgar on her maiden speech.
The government now admits that despite the Conservative rhetoric on the campaign trail, Canada is back into a financial deficit. It did not have to be that way. No, we cannot blame it on the failed policies of George W. Bush. In three short years Conservatives led the highest spending government on record. They squandered a $12 billion surplus and they burned through the $3 billion contingency fund. The government had been warned of an economic slowdown--