Madam Speaker, I welcome my colleague back.
With respect to the economic update that will be presented this afternoon, the questions in front of us will be questions of potential confidence. We know the experience of the Liberal Party in the last session of Parliament on many questions of confidence. Because of political reasons, it was suggested that Liberal members were unable to express their own convictions in the votes. Forty-three times there were confidence measures brought forward on budgets, on the throne speech, on fiscal measures, and for reasons not associated with Parliament itself, other than political, they were unable to act on their convictions, .
I have a question for my colleague, whom I know as we have worked on various issues together. As we face these most dire and uncertain economic times, the choices before government are critical for working families in this country. These decisions will affect not only this current fiscal year, but perhaps years to come. The current Conservative government is wedded to some very deep ideologies that prevent it from applying other prescriptions, true stimulus packages, true investments in industry and communities.
What will the Liberal Party be doing as we face these confidence measures? Where will the line in the sand be drawn? Where will the conviction be on the choices that are before us as a minority Parliament to act in the best interests of Canadians everywhere?