Madam Speaker, I promise to address my remarks to you.
I would like to thank my excellent colleague from Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix for her comments.
As fathers, we have a family budget. All things being equal, if we spend $40,000 more than we have, and if we have no plan to balance the budget, what happens? Bankruptcy. The country will probably not go bankrupt, but it will lose its rating, which will result in investment instability. Nobody will want to invest here anymore. Small businesses are nervous, so they will keep their money in their pockets. That is the threat hanging over Canadians' heads.
On this Halloween night, I hope the Minister of Finance is not dressed up as a ghost. I hope he is working on tomorrow's economic update. I would ask him to take things more seriously and be more responsible, and I would like him to make job creation a priority for Canada's small businesses.