Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member's first 17-minute speech and then the three minutes after question period. The member embodies what I believe is the NDP's fantasyland. People listening to the New Democrats would think that if they were born in Canada, they are going to be given a house. If they were born in Canada, good news; they will have anything they can possibly imagine, because the NDP will just give it to them.
The reality of government, as we have seen from the NDP at the provincial level, is far from that fantasyland. I suggest that the member opposite might want to look at some of those NDP governments to get a sense of reality.
The reality inside this House in the last four years is that we have seen many progressive policies, such as a policy that saw Canada's wealthiest 1% get an increase in taxes, something the member voted against. We saw a government that brought in a policy to give a tax break to Canada's middle class, something the NDP voted against.
What about the measures that lifted thousands of children in every region of our country out of poverty? The NDP voted against them. What about the thousands of seniors who were lifted out of poverty? The NDP voted against that. For measure after measure, they are in that fantasyland. I do not quite understand it, when during the last election, Jack Layton himself said that they were going to balance the budget. It just does not add up.
Can my colleague across the way step out of fantasyland for a while and tell us if his new leader believes, as his former leader did, that Canada has to have a balanced budget at all costs?