Madam Speaker, I always find it rather fascinating to hear the Conservatives talk about the elite, as though the Conservative Party were not the elite of major financiers, wealthy CEOs and big business across Canada. The proof that the Conservatives are working hand in hand with the financial elite and big business is that they gave tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks to big business when they were in office.
In so doing, they were forced to cut services to the public, which hurt women, veterans, workers, the sick and our health care system. Even with their cuts, the Conservatives did not manage to balance the budget. It was not until the end of their term in 2015, when they had a fire sale and sold General Motors shares, that they managed to balance the budget.
I do not know what kind of magical thinking the Conservatives' are engaging in when it comes to the public purse, but the government cannot just hand out gifts to big business without also having to cut services to the public.