The way this government spends the taxpayers' dollars has be reviewed. Many of the cuts and downsizing that we will see and have seen could be eliminated if we strove for better spending practices. Accountability, Mr. Speaker, accountability of the negotiated contracts and sole-source contracts that this government gets involved in must be made clearer. When the facts are on the table and this government nears the high-water mark of transparency, then and only then will we be able to properly debate the current schemes and solutions that this government presents in this budget.

Public government is accountable to the public, and they will judge the Todd budget and the measures taken by Cabinet and the 15 ordinary Members. I have no problem with this. Mr. Speaker, in my campaign, I said that I would speak out against knee-jerk reactions to our fiscal situation, and I think that this sentiment was carried on through the whole budget process. But, Mr. Speaker, I still think we could have done more to bring down the accumulated deficit. Mr. Todd's address has forecasted an accumulated deficit of $85 million by the end of this fiscal year. This is unacceptable to many of the Members and is unacceptable to me.