Mr. Speaker, I am glad the hon. minister mentioned the name Bob Rae in his speech because in a couple of weeks he will have to refer to that person as the member for Toronto Centre.
I point out that it was the current Minister of Finance who left Ontario nearly broke and bankrupt. However, I want to centre on the minister's speech and the lack of mention of two huge gaps.
He represents an area with a significant francophone population, but there is no mention of new money for the Official Languages Act roll out.
The minister may consider Manitoba to be the centre of Canada, but I do not. What possesses him to be in a government that mentions nothing about regional economic development? In my region, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick, received not a mention in a very voluminous budget document.
Why are these two things missing from the budget? If his response is that the Liberals are afraid to bring the government down, he should be sure that we will pick our time. The time is nigh. What will the minister say to the Canadian public about those two important missing elements from the budget of which he is so proud?