Thank you.

It is my understanding that this Prime Minister values private sector practices. In that light, I would like to share this, as finance professional of 14 years. If I were to pick up a file and see that revenues are going down, expenses are going up and there is no forecast, no budget, no plan, and not only that but the funds are being requested in a very short timeline, that would be an immediate decline.

Further to that, it would be a referral to the financial restructuring team, particularly given a history of consistent deficits and poor management. Particularly, given the tight timeline, if anybody was reviewing a file like this, I think everybody would think it's some sketchy business. With that, I am very concerned that there is no desire to put a budget forward this spring. I think it's highly irresponsible, particularly because we have an affordability crisis. I don't think it's a very complex concept to think that you cannot spend your way to affordability. That is very irresponsible.

We cannot be borrowing to fund affordability measures. Without the benefit of a budget, that's exactly what it looks like, because we are not seeing any reduction in spending. We are only seeing a reduction in revenue. Despite the fact that there are a lot of moving parts in the economy right now.... There's instability, and that's exactly why we need a budget. We need to adopt this basic private sector practice of preparing a budget before we spend. I have not seen any responsible manager go off and prepare a list of expenditures before even considering what they have in terms of revenue.

As I see it at this moment in time, any measures of affordability would be funded by borrowing. That is like going grocery shopping with your credit card, knowing that you're going to pay more later because there is interest. Right now, with the $486 billion of spending that is being requested, that spending will go on the national credit card, and the interest is mounting. That is poor management; it's highly irresponsible. We need to respect taxpayers' dollars, and because of that, we need to see a budget. We need to see the flow of funds, the revenues, the expenses and what the real plan is. We cannot be playing with words and saying, “Oh, yes, we have a plan, but we're going to keep you blindfolded until we actually spend the money.”

That's it. Thank you.

Sandra Cobena