Mr. Speaker, I will tell members what Stephen Harper did before the recession of 2008 and 2009: he paid down $38 billion in debt, which constituted one of the largest debt repayments in Canadian history. Then, during the 2008-2009 recession, which I would remind the hon. member was the worst recession since the Great Depression, our Conservative government made short-term stimulus investments to turn around the Canadian economy, and guess what: Canada's economy recovered better than any economy in the industrialized world. We moved forward with the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio, the lowest unemployment rate, the fastest job creation rate, and a balanced budget.
It gets better, because it was not just a balanced budget. It was a $2 billion surplus. Guess what the current Liberal government managed to do with Prime Minister Harper's $2 billion surplus. It managed to turn it into a $25 billion deficit. Imagine that.
I will say for the member that I will take Stephen Harper's record any day over the record of the current government.