Really, Wally?? We are little full of ourself aren't we?? I am sure you consider yourself one of these "sensible" people. Then perhaps you can use some of that "sense" and do some math. I voted for Mulroney to not increase our debt as Trudeau Sr had done. Well guess what? Mulroney increased our national debt by over 300 billion. Then Harper comes along, inherits a substantial (and growing) surplus and guess what again? He increased our national debt by 34%, mostly due to the GST cut and not the fiscal crisis (see my comment earlier on). Three quarters of our federal national debt was created by Progressive Conservative or the Reform version of Conservatives that ran our country federally. So perhaps you should study history a bit before you assume yourself to be so "sensible". And then you should take a few lessons in modesty.