Mr. Speaker, I listened to the comments of my hon. colleague from Edmonton. I was born in Edmonton and grew up there. I spent 27 years in Edmonton before moving to Vancouver and representing the great riding of Vancouver Kingsway.
I was intrigued by my friend's comments where he appeared to be very critical about the Alberta government's decision to run a $10-billion deficit at a time when the Alberta economy is facing a global collapse of commodity prices, particularly oil and gas, but of course, he represents the Conservative Party.
I was in this House when his government, the Conservative Party prior, added $125 billion to Canada's debt and ran seven straight deficits, including a $50-billion deficit in 2009 when Canada was facing a great recession. At that time, the Conservative Party argued that running stimulus spending and deficits was critical for the economy of Canada, yet now he stands in this House and criticizes the Alberta government for running stimulus spending in Alberta. Premier Rachel Notley is showing that there is a way to have responsible resource development in this country while showing national leadership in terms of climate change and dealing with environmental protection.
I think Albertans see there is a different way, because the Conservative government that Ms. Notley replaced was a government that failed to diversify that economy, as Peter Lougheed once said was so instrumental to that economy, and left the Alberta government and the economy in a very vulnerable position for a global oil collapse, which is what happened. That is the reason the Alberta economy is in trouble. It is the failure of the Conservatives to plan.
I wonder if he has any comments about those facts.