Madam Speaker, in terms of the national debt, obviously in the last couple of years we have added to it, but it is important to point out that between 2006 and 2008 our government paid $40 billion on our national debt and every single payment was opposed by parties opposite in terms of putting money toward our savings and actually reducing the debt between 2006 and 2008.
I would also point out that I have encouraged members of the opposition to put on the table any of the spending that it has opposed over the last two years and say that we should not be doing it in terms of infrastructure or any other stimulus spending.
In terms of reducing the deficit going forward, we have a five-year plan to do that by 2015. We will be ending the stimulus program in 2011. We have also frozen the operational budgets of departments. We have frozen the salaries of the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, all members of Parliament and their budgets.
We will be restraining spending, but we will not, as my colleague from Burlington said, be cutting transfers for health care, education and transfers to the municipalities. Those transfers will continue going forward.