Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member for his speech. He is very eloquent and very compelling, and we would like to welcome him to the House and thank him for putting forward both a bit of a personal history, which is very interesting, and more about the issues.
I must say that I did not share everything that the member talked about, particularly when he talked about the economy. I have a couple of questions to put to him, because we have just come through an election campaign in which Canadians made some decisions, I think in large part because they saw what the record of the previous government was. The record of the previous government was the largest deficits in Canadian history, the largest trade deficits in Canadian history, and probably most significant, the largest debt load on average Canadian families that we have ever seen in Canadian history.
Many people in my riding say that Conservative economic development is an oxymoron, and given the record of the former Conservative government, that is a truism; it is very true. So I would like the member to comment on all of these things—largest deficits, largest trade deficits, record debt loads on the average Canadian family—and how that might mesh with what the Conservatives might be championing and speaking on in the coming months in the House of Commons.