Mr. Speaker, listening to the Conservatives stand up and speak, I am beginning to believe that the self-confidence of the Minister of Finance must be a little low. Time and time again members stand up to say that we have the best Minister of Finance in the world. That is debatable at best. I would suggest it is somewhat of an exaggeration of reality to make that sort of claim, and the facts of the matter clearly demonstrate that.
The member made reference in his speech to how wonderful free trade agreements are and that the government has moved forward on many different free trade agreements. We are very much aware of that. We have supported the free trade agreements, as the Liberal Party has in the past.
The concern I have—as would most Canadians, if not all—is the overall trade balance. When the Conservatives took government, there was a trade surplus of billions of dollars; they have turned it into billions of dollars of trade deficit.
Can the member explain why there is a deficit?