Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for drawing Canadians' attention to our leadership race.
In a leadership race, each person expresses their ideas and we debate them. If everyone sang the same song with the same instrument, the same song sheet and the same tone, it would not be a leadership race. It is a debate of ideas.
My colleague thought it was appalling that we were in a deficit for nine consecutive years, but I urge him to be careful, because it was not quite nine years. I am not sure where my colleague was at the time, but we were all on planet Earth, and the whole world was facing the worst economic crisis in history since 1929. That is why we ran such deficits.
However, thanks to the rigorous management of Mr. Harper and the late Mr. Flaherty, Canada was the first G7 country to emerge from the crisis. It had the best debt-to-GDP ratio and Canadians had more money in their pockets in over 50 years—so yes, we are proud of that record.
At the same time, it must be embarrassing for the government to talk about the Phoenix pay system. Must I remind the parliamentary secretary that, about a year and a month ago, when the Liberals were in power, they were the ones who authorized the implementation of the Phoenix pay system, although our ministers had warned the government about the associated risks? If the government wants to politicize the issue, I would say welcome to the big leagues, because this government is the one that pushed the green button at the wrong time.
Now the Liberals have the gall to talk about military procurement when they are the ones who just signed a $5-billion cheque to buy the Super Hornet jets that no one wants and that serve no purpose. They have some nerve to raise that issue. I am very proud of the Conservative administration when I see the billions of dollars the government is shamelessly spending.