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House Hansard - 175

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 29, 2023 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 175 - Mar/29/23
Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie
  • Mar/29/23 5:16:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I salute the hon. member in return. I enjoy serving with him in the House of Commons. I am here to defend the interests of my nation and to make sure that its priorities are at least heard, even if they are not always respected. This is obvious from the budget and from the examples that my hon. colleague gave. The point I would like to make here is that, yes, we have a government that spends recklessly. Yes, we have a government that interferes in areas of jurisdiction that are not its own, while failing to look after its own affairs. My point is that, despite all of this and despite the $40‑billion deficit, it still has fiscal flexibility in the short, medium and long term. As I said, the $40‑billion deficit this year is offset by lapsed funding. On top of that, as the Parliamentary Budget Officer has said, if we maintain the debt-to-GDP ratio, that is another $40 billion of fiscal flexibility. That is three times what was needed to pay for health care.
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