Mr. Speaker, I have certainly enjoyed the choice of words used by Conservatives lately. They do not talk about balancing the budget, but about fixing the budget. I am wondering if the member can tell me the difference between the two because I certainly do not think they mean balancing it. If we look at the history of the Conservatives over the last few decades, neither Stephen Harper nor Brian Mulroney balanced the budget. Actually, Harper only had two balanced budgets. One questionable budget was just before he left in 2015 and the other was on the heels of Paul Martin's surplus in 2006.
The member talked about fixing the budget. What is the difference between fixing and balancing? He can spare me the rhetoric that every dollar spent must be saved. Does that basically mean that they will keep the deficit exactly where it is? In reality, most governments accept the fact that running deficits is okay as long as they are growing the economy at a pace that is outpacing the deficits, which has been the case for this government.