Mr. Speaker, I certainly listen to the member every time he makes a speech in the House.
I recognize that the government claims that it has, in its opinion anyway, good economic statistics, but at the end of the day, we have to recognize that the government is basically making a virtue out of necessity. The reality is that had there been a majority Conservative government in 2006 or 2008, the government would have immediately set on a path of deregulation, following the United States. Had that happened in 2006, the Canadian economy and the Canadian banking system would have been in the same disaster that befell the United States.
In actual fact, the government should be thanking its lucky stars that the previous government had resisted deregulation. We in the NDP had certainly fought deregulation all along. In fact, it was us, collectively, who provided the rules and regulations that kept the banking industry and the investment sector strong. The Conservatives inherited a good, strong situation and they were about to deregulate and cause a disaster, but they were saved from themselves.