Mr. Speaker, in listening to the member, I could not help but reflect upon the Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien era. When the Conservatives took over the reins of power, they needed to recognize that we had a healthy economy, that we had a budget that had a huge surplus, well into the billions of dollars, and that in fact at a time in which the recession did not exist, they turned that healthy surplus into a deficit situation.
When we talk about budgets, budgets are about priorities. This year the government has demonstrated its priorities. It says that it wants more members of Parliament, more politicians, which I would argue goes against what the member's very own constituents would want to see. At the same time, it is reducing the number of civil servants.
Would the member not agree that the budget is in fact about priorities, that the government was wrong to increase the number of MPs at the same time, in the same year, in which it would cut back on 19,000 civil servants—