Mr. Speaker, nearly $8 billion in federal stimulus was lapsed in 2007-08. That means that instead of the $9.6 billion surplus it claimed, the real number was less than $2 billion, if the government had let the funding flow.
What did it do next? It increased spending by the billions and eroded the tax base. Is this why the minister has only spent 5¢ for every dollar budgeted for infrastructure over the last two years? Has he been instructed to pad the books?