Supply  Mr. Speaker, I have two things to say. First, projected surpluses are calculated by economists from banks and other institutions who have no political reasons to hide anything. Second, the hon. member continues to insist that he is the only one who can make such brilliant forecasts.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, our government just lowered employment insurance contributions for the eighth consecutive year. This means that, compared to 1994, employers and employees will save $6.8 billion this year. Not only did we do that, but we also increased payments.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member does not seem to understand the simple arithmetic that the size of the federal government today is less than it has been for 50 years. I could perhaps illuminate history by describing the meeting to which he referred. After the meeting the National Post , which was then in the employ of the Canadian Alliance, pretended I was the only economist to claim the $18 billion deficit.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, unlike the hon. member, I do not make any claims to being an exceptional magician as far as my ability to make ultra-accurate forecasts are concerned. I would therefore repeat what I have already said. If the hon. member is the only economist in the country with the extraordinary capacity to always be precisely accurate, then he ought to go work in the private sector, where he would become an instant millionaire.

Supply  I am not holding my breath for sensible ideas from over there. I cannot reveal the extent to which I know what is in the budget. I will briefly review the opinions of the opposition parties regarding the budget and then come to the core principles the finance minister has already referred to.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Hillsborough. In a sense this is a strange motion to have less than a week before the budget because members opposite should understand there is such a thing as budget secrecy. There is no way we on this side the House can tell them what is in the budget or respond to their proposals in a concrete fashion.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a question about a comment which made no sense at all. The hon. member said that the finance minister was walking Canada into a recession. It appears he does not have a clue that this is global. All countries in the world are slowing down. Indeed, in sharp contrast to the recession of the early eighties and early nineties, everyone under the sun from the OECD to the IMF to the private sector is saying that Canada would perform better than the United States.

Income Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2001  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to Bill S-31, the Income Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2001, at third reading stage. This bill enacts recently negotiated tax conventions between Canada and eight countries. Exports account for more than 40% of our annual gross domestic product.

Privilege  Mr. Speaker, I have three points which suggest that my statement was accurate and perhaps I could mention them. The first is that yesterday afternoon I received information that Nelson Mandela wanted to see “the fellow who opposed my nomination”. I immediately notified the Prime Minister's Office of that fact.

Privilege  My contention is I did not make a mistake and I am offering facts to support it. Nelson Mandela waited some minutes at the airport to receive the call and it was not received. Then as a consequence, protocol informed the PMO. The PMO called the hon. member's office and the representative from the PMO was told that a decision had been made not to make the call.

Nelson Mandela  Mr. Speaker, this morning, Canada gained a new citizen. In my opinion, Nelson Mandela is the entire world's number one citizen. In the last century, there have been three great champions who have fought for the freedom of their people: Ghandi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

Income Tax Conventions Implementation Act, 2001  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to Bill S-31, the income tax conventions implementation act, 2001, at second reading. The bill would enact tax treaties that Canada has signed with eight countries, five of which are new treaties with countries with which we did not previously have a treaty, namely, Slovenia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Senegal.

Prebudget Consultations  Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the hon. member on the subject of health care. I heard her echoing the thoughts of the Ontario government that this was a problem caused by the federal government. I would like to suggest two facts and see what her answer is. First, she may be aware that recently, just before the election, the federal government put an extra $23 billion over five years into health care.

Prebudget Consultations  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for that excellent question. I spent the whole day in the House yesterday and I thank members for many excellent suggestions. On the whole we had from the left the tax and spend from the NDP I have mentioned before. On the right from the fifth party we had a blank slate and not one suggestion in concrete terms, suggesting it has no ideas for the budget.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, as the member must know, we have already announced a budget for December. We had to wait until the most recent information and the figures on the third quarter were available, toward the end of this month. Once he sees all of this information, the member will see that we will have brought down a budget that will help the Canadian economy.