"What you and he both omit is that if Chretien and Martin had not acted then federal debt would have been downgraded, making debt repayments unaffordable at interest rates in those days."

Action was required yes. But the actions taken far outweighed what was required.  Almost every western country eliminated their deficits in the late 90s early 2000s using revenue from the internet and telecommunications boom. It had nothing whatsoever to do with his draconian cuts to the public service which did more to hurt than it helped.  It has been noted that we may have actually eliminated the deficit sooner without many of these cuts which are also responsible for a great deal of the existing provincial debt in provinces other than Ontario (the Ontario Liberals own that one).