Mr. Speaker, the fine officials at Finance Canada today provided their independent analysis and have reported that for the April 2015 to January 2016 period, the government actually posted a budgetary surplus of $4.3 billion.
In other news, the finance minister has introduced a budget today that, quite frankly, is a betrayal of the middle class. We see a $1.3-billion increase in personal income taxes; we see increased taxes on students; we have seen families stripped of the children's fitness tax credit and the children's arts tax credit; the Liberals have broken their promise to small business and are not decreasing their taxes and, indeed, have increased the payroll tax today; they have increased taxes on charities; and, most unconscionably, they have raided the defence budget to the tune of $3.7 billion on a day when men and women in this country don a uniform and put themselves in harm's way just because of that fact. However, they still need to borrow.
On page 51 of this document, the minister writes that the government remains committed to returning to balance, but every projection through 2021 still says “deficit”.
Would the minister please let us know, when will the government stop borrowing, especially since he is doing it on the backs of Canadians to pay for the projects of their Liberal friends?