Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy the discussion that comes from the other side, from the member for Winnipeg North.
The member brought up the issue of government image. One of the things the Liberals never talk about is that, shortly after the Conservatives came into government, we went into the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
One of the things that Canadians appreciate—although very few Canadians were seriously impacted by that great recession we had, because of the policies the government brought in—is that over our term we saved families some $6,600 for a family of four. Our belief was that the money should be left in the pockets of families. They are the ones who generate the economy.
We were the second-best country in the world in which to do business. We had a finance minister recognized as the best finance minister in the world. There was the creation of more than one million net new jobs.
Let me talk about image. In the 1990s, when there was also a blip, the Liberals gutted the military. I was in municipal government, as the hon. member was. There was basically no funding in small rural municipalities for infrastructure. There were health care cuts in my province of Ontario of some 20% to 25%.
When it has a serious spending problem, which the Liberal government does, should it not be able to tell us what the deficit is going to be and when it is going to be able to balance the budget?