Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' balanced budget law is a phoney gimmick. It was the Conservatives who inherited a $13 billion surplus, spent us into deficit even before the 2008 downturn, then gave us seven deficits, adding $160 billion to the national debt.
Now the law only applies outside of recessions. However, we have not been in a recession since May 2009. Therefore, will the Conservative ministers agree to make the law retroactive and return 5% of their salaries over the last six years to Canadian taxpayers?