Mr. Speaker, I can do no better than quote the headline of The Globe and Mail editorial to which I referred. It states, “This budget was designed to win an election”. I think the member for Winnipeg North and me understand what that is about.
Imagine a government that spends a decade with deficits, huge debt, and all of a sudden, on the eve of an election, announces that, there is a surplus. Then we are told that we are getting it by way of raiding a contingency fund, selling shares and using the EI fund.
I think Canadians understand that this is really about an election promise. Much of the goodies that we are hoping will happen, goodies that are essential in places like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and my community of Victoria, to deal with transit, for example, will not happen for many years.
All of the good stuff is back end loaded with these great promises but, hallelujah, the government has balanced the budget. I am sure Canadians see through that.