Mr. Speaker, I know something of the era to which the gentleman was referring.
In 2006, the Conservative government inherited nine consecutive Liberal surpluses. It inherited $100 billion in fiscal flexibility. In less than two years, the Conservatives blew it all. Through reckless fiscal policy, it eliminated all the surplus and put the country back into deficit again, before, not because of, there was a recession in 2008. The recession made it worse.