Business of Supply  When we only have a small amount of spending money at a time of an unprecedented deficit of $56 billion and counting, when we have the highest unemployment that we have had in the last 14 years, when we have 151,000 people in Canada out of work and when we find that young people have one of the highest unemployment rates in this country, how are we setting priorities here?

Sustaining Canada's Economic Recovery Act  It was the most expensive endeavour taken by the government. It turned a $13 billion surplus into the $56 billion deficit that we see before us. This is something that obviously is consistent. If we look at all of the budgets of the government, it has increased spending at unprecedented levels.

Sustaining Canada's Economic Recovery Act  Speaker, to continue with the theme of tax relief, it certainly is appropriate to give tax relief when the government's revenues are in surplus. However, we are looking at a deficit this year of $56 billion. How, in heaven's name, does it make any sense whatsoever to give a $6 billion tax cut, as the hon. member rightly says, to the most profitable companies in Canada, which, cumulatively, will add up to about $20 billion, while simultaneously running a $56 billion deficit that will go up to $165 billion?

The Economy  They are worried about how they will save for retirement. They wonder what they will get for this record $56 billion deficit. Canadians see these borrow and spend Conservatives wasting their tax dollars with $1.3 billion for a 72-hour G20 photo op and on $10 billion to $13 billion on American-style mega prisons to lock up unreported criminals as the crime rate actually declines.

Supporting Vulnerable Seniors and Strengthening Canada's Economy Act  The effect of having U.S. private mortgage insurance giants like the now defunct AIG or Genworth enter the Canadian market was to sign up borrowers for risky mortgages: $56 billion in 40-year mortgages, the most expensive and least flexible mortgages there are, $10 billion of which requires no money down. These instruments entice many Canadians into debt far over their heads.

The Budget  We did not do it at a time when there was, as there is now, the highest budgetary deficit of $56 billion and we did not do it with respect to the very richest 5% of corporations while those in need were in fact given paltry handouts. That is the point of principle. I will borrow from the Minister of Finance's own statement when he said, “What are the relative needs?

The Budget  The members opposite should almost be kissing the shoes of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin every day for giving them the opportunity to come into government with a surplus. The only problem is that they have taken that surplus and driven this country into a $56 billion debt. Instead of doing things for Canadians, the Conservatives are giving corporations tax cuts and taxing our grandchildren down the road. They should be ashamed of themselves. If I have time, I would like to discuss the Wheat Board.

The Budget  Because of the Conservative government, we have the largest debt in our history. We are looking at $56 billion. If we are looking at a debt of that magnitude, then the issue for us is that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador or Atlantic Canada or Canada at large did not create that debt, so the government should not put burdens on their backs to try to solve it.

The Budget  With budget 2011 federal support to provinces and territories will reach an all-time high of over $56 billion, which is almost $2.2 billion more than last year. For B.C., this totals over $5.4 billion in 2011-12, or $1,182 per capita. There is almost $3.8 billion through the Canada health transfer, an increase of $216 million from last year.

The Budget  Madam Speaker, my colleague knows the Liberal government inherited a record deficit in Canada of $42 billion at that time, which held the record until the Conservative government provided Canada with its latest record deficit of $56 billion, and it had to reign in spending. It had to control spending and make difficult choices in order to get Canada back on track. There is a reason why the IMF and the international financial community are saying that a government of a country that is having fiscal challenges today that wants the recipe to fix those challenges should look to what the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin did in Canada during the 1990s.

The Budget  We did it at a time when we bequeathed to the Conservatives, when we were defeated, a budgetary $14 billion surplus. We do not do it at a time when we have the highest budgetary deficit of $56 billion and we do not do it with respect to the very rich 5%, while those in need are in fact given paltry crumbs. That is the point. We are asked again for a $30 billion fiscal planning in an untendered contract for the jets when, at this point, $30 billion would be an annual cost for health care.

The Budget  Madam Speaker, the member would know that our total debt at the moment is around $543 billion and that the government is just coming off adding another $56 billion to that. This year it will be another $43 billion, and the next year it should be a $34 billion deficit. This is at a time when interest rates are actually low. What is the government going to do when interest rates start moving up, which must happen over the next couple of years, and interest payments start going up astronomically?

The Budget  More irresponsible than the waste is the fact that the government still does not even have a plan to get us out of the record deficit of $56 billion last year. The Conservatives continue to tell Canadians they will retire the deficit in five years. However, the Liberals know differently. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has forecast an $11 billion deficit for 2015-16.

The Budget  A year later, the Conservatives quietly cancelled the plan before anything was sold. The Conservatives went on to give Canadians a record $56 billion deficit. In yesterday's budget the Conservatives announced what they called a strategic and operating review. It is part of their attempt to pretend that they will cut spending and balance the budget, but once again, the budget does not provide any details whatsoever about these cuts or their restraint.

Justice  Canadians cannot trust the government's numbers. It is a government that has spent Canada into a $56 billion deficit and now it continues to hide the true cost of its prison bills. The Conservatives are ignoring the Speaker's ruling. They are asking MPs to vote on legislation without telling us what the costs will be for Canadians.