Mr. Speaker, when the Liberal government came to office in 1993, it was faced with a $42 billion deficit. It had to go through a very important process, which was basically to stabilize the situation.
There was expenditure review. There were some very difficult decisions to be made. Some very important tactical solutions were made to stabilize the situation. It took three years to balance the budget.
I read in today's Ottawa Citizen about the President of the Treasury Board basically cutting off negotiations with all the public service unions. Penalizing our public service will now summarily start, it appears, suggesting somehow that the public service is the reason we are in this predicament, while that does not seem to be the case.
Maybe the member would like to comment on the public service--