Mr. Speaker, it is pretty safe to say the hon. member cannot count on my support for this budget.
Right now in Canada, the debt is more than the budget, so the amount of debt we owe is more than the entire budget of the federal government. Every dollar spent is a dollar borrowed from Canadians and future Canadians.
According to Fitch Ratings, right after the budget was announced, “Canada's...proposed budget, announced in Parliament on Nov. 4, underscores the erosion of the federal government’s finances”. It continued, “persistent fiscal expansion and a rising debt burden have weakened its credit profile and could increase rating pressure over the medium term.”
This has happened before, with crushing impacts on the social programs Canadians care about and benefit from. In the 1990s, after similar ratings pressure, the Liberal government of the day was forced to cut 32% from the federal health and social transfers over just two years.
Is the member not concerned about the same thing happening today?