Mr. Chair, I would like to start by talking about the “Fiscal Monitor”. It is prepared each month using the same accounting principles used to prepare the government's annual audited financial statements and the public accounts. The Office of the Auditor General has provided unqualified opinions on the government's financial statements in each of the past 17 years. The mere fact that we are talking about the “Fiscal Monitor” in a question from the other side means that party acknowledges the veracity of the reports that come through the “Fiscal Monitor”.
When we look at it, we realize that the “Fiscal Monitor” is telling us what we expected it would tell us. We knew in the fall when we came into office that we were facing an era that was going to be challenging. We had come off a decade of low growth. I will remind members that every decade previous to the last decade had higher growth for eight decades. We found ourselves in a low-growth era. However, it turned out that the efforts of the previous government were even less effective than we thought they were because we found ourselves at the time we came into office with a much more challenging economic horizon. We saw that growth rates were much more challenged. We could look forward and see that those would present real changes in the economy over time. We saw that obviously the price of oil was causing real challenges for our economy.
That is what we were left with, realizing that situation. We knew then what we know now. We knew that the forecasts the previous government had made in terms of what would happen in the year 2015-16 were just inaccurate. It overestimated revenue and it underestimated what was going to happen in the economy and, as a result of what happened, expenses went up. Yes, expenses go up when the economy is difficult. Expenses go up because the government spends more money on services for Canadians during difficult times.
However, it was a combination of revenues going down more than expected and expenses going up more than expected that led us to a position in March where we did have a very significant deterioration in our finances. This is not unusual, because if we go back to the years before 2015-16, we see a similar pattern. In March 2009-10, we see a negative $6.4 billion. In 2010-11, we see a negative $6.2 billion. These are all numbers in March. In 2011-12, we see a negative $8.9 billion. In 2012-13, we see a negative $8 billion. My point is quite clear. This is a continuing pattern. Had the previous government done just a bit of due diligence, it would have seen that this was a pattern that would happen this year. Had it had the foresight to understand the significant economic challenges that we were facing, it might have understood what we were saying. That way the Conservatives might have actually been able to tell Canadians the truth; that they were on track to leave us with a deficit.
We now know from the March “Fiscal Monitor” that is exactly what happened. The previous government left us with a deficit. I am happy to spend time with the hon. member outside of the House to walk through the numbers with him line by line to show him exactly how that occurred. Because I know he has a business background, I know he will understand.
That is the situation we find ourselves in. We will now make a difference for Canadians by investing in the future. We will do what the government before us did not have the willingness to do, and that is make a difference for future generations by making the right decisions today.