Mr. Speaker, since 2006, the Minister of Finance has made a career out of increasing Canadian and household debt. In the last five years, he has increased the federal debt by $125 billion, leaving the largest deficit in Canadian history, but it gets worse. Yesterday we learned that the minister directed his staff to secretly call individual private banks about mortgage rates. Rather than trying to balance the books on the back of a napkin, they refuse to create clear rules for the financial sector and to protect Canadian consumers. Now even the finance minister's own cabinet colleague is disavowing his reckless interference in the free market.
While Conservatives interfere with private banks, New Democrats will proudly stand by our track record. The NDP is the best party to effectively balance the budget, and we will prepare ourselves for 2015, when we can clean up the mess left by this finance minister.