Hon. James S. Cowan (Leader of the Opposition):

Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Eight months ago, every reputable economist was predicting a worldwide economic slowdown. At that time, the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister told Canadians not to worry; there would be no recession in Canada, and budget surpluses would continue indefinitely.

Last fall, the government had an opportunity to take action by proposing measures in its economic update to help Canadians weather the upcoming storm. Instead, the government chose to play partisan politics and finally shut down Parliament for more than two months to avoid a vote of confidence it knew it could not win.

At long last, in its January budget, the government finally came clean and admitted what Canadians already knew: The country was headed into troubled waters. Yesterday, the Minister of Finance was forced to backtrack once again and acknowledge that the deficit would be "significantly larger" than he had predicted.

In view of the dismal record of the government in its economic forecasts and in assisting Canadians through these difficult times, how can Canadians have any confidence that this latest statement is anything more than idle speculation on the part of Minister Flaherty?

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