Madam Speaker, it is as clear today as it ever has been that Canadians do not want rhetoric from their government. What they want is action. What they seek is real progress.
These are the standards that Canadians have set. These are the standards by which this government wants to be judged. Seldom in our history have so many experienced such anxiety. Canadians feel our very way of life is at risk. They look at medicare and feel it is threatened. They look at the pension system and wonder if it will be there in the years to come. They consider the economy and worry that the gale force winds of competition and change will carry away their jobs. And Canadians think about their children, our youth, and ask what kind of opportunities will be left for them.
These are damning statements from a member of the opposition but that is a direct quote, the opening paragraphs of the speech by the Minister of Finance to this House, the budget speech on March 6, 1996. That is the admission of the Minister of Finance to the House and the country: the government does not have the answers that are required, does not have a plan and, halfway through its mandate, has done virtually nothing to address the major concerns of Canadians.
Let us look at these questions. Canadians feel their very way of life is at risk. That is a statement by the Minister of Finance. Of course it is at risk. Why? Taxation is going up and up, contrary to what the Minister of Finance says. While he says that he has not raised taxes, everyone knows that he has raised taxation revenue from Canadians by taking a dollar from the seniors, by reducing the amount that they can put into RRSPs. They are going to be cut off at age 69 instead of age 71.
The minister knows full well that the basic exemptions for income tax are not indexed for inflation at all as long as inflation is under 3 per cent. He has taken unemployment insurance premiums out of Canadian taxpayers faster than would otherwise would be required.
What a litany of exercises by the Minister of Finance. By squeezing more dollars out of this program and collecting a little more from that program, ensuring that Canadians have to pay more somewhere else, all the while he is claiming that he has not raised taxes. I will give him his due. While he has not raised the general rate of taxation, he has done everything in his power to raise taxes by every other means at his disposal.
That is why Canadians feel that their very way of life is at risk. The Minister of Finance says that Canadians look at medicare and feel it is threatened. They have every right to feel it is threatened. The government remains absolutely committed to keeping its head in the sand. It stands by its five principles that unfortunately are outdated.
Medicare has stood us well until now, but unfortunately we have a plan that we can no longer afford. Changes are required. What does the government do? It does absolutely nothing. It has not changed one thing, other than transfer less money to the provinces. It is allowing them to figure out how to deliver health care within a framework that was devised 30 years ago. Unfortunately the provinces are finding that they cannot live within the new restrictions. That is why medicare is threatened.
It is up to the government to do something to demonstrate leadership. If I recall, the Prime Minister campaigned in the last election that he would convene a conference of the health ministers to resolve the crisis in health care. That was going to take place by June 1994. It will soon be June 1996 and we are still waiting for that to happen. That is why health care is threatened.
Seniors look at the pension system and wonder if it will be there in the years to come. The actuaries have said that there is a $600 billion shortfall in the Canada pension plan.
Today the government has started a travelling road show to ask Canadians what they want. Where is the leadership from this government? Where is the commitment by the government to the seniors who have worked hard all their lives? Now that they are retired and dependant on their savings and the money that they paid to the Canada pension plan in the belief that old age security was going to be there for them, these are the things that are threatened.
Seniors are concerned. They are asking if the pension system will be there for years to come. We have said and seniors are saying it more and more that it is not going to be there. The newspapers today are suggesting that the premiums are going to double in order to maintain the program that is currently available.
I am not sure the Canadian economy can afford a doubling of premiums. That is why Canadians are concerned. Is the Canada pension plan going to be there for the seniors of today, far less the seniors of tomorrow? It is an answer to that question which we want from the government.
In the budget speech the minister said that old age security and the guaranteed income supplement are going, that they will be finished in the year 2001. No more old age security. No more
guaranteed income supplement. The programs that seniors have depended on for the last generation or more are going to be wiped away.
Where does that leave them? We know the minister is going to introduce something called a tax free benefit to seniors. However, is that going to be better or worse for seniors? They do not know, which is why they have every right to be concerned.
Not only is the government saying it has a serious problem with the Canada pension plan but it does not know how to fix it. In the same speech the Minister of Finance states he is taking away the old age security and the guaranteed income supplement and is replacing it with something called a tax free seniors benefit which, as far as we can tell, could in many cases pay seniors less than what they are receiving today.
Do seniors not have the right to be concerned? I think they have a right to be concerned. I would think the government would say that they have a right to be concerned. Yet halfway through its mandate, the Minister of Finance is making statements at the beginning of his speech which are almost an admission of failure to manage the programs that it was elected to manage.
The government considers the economy and worries that the gale force winds of competition and change will carry away the jobs. Does anyone remember what was the promise of the election campaign of this government? It was jobs, jobs, jobs. Now it is saying that people are concerned that the changes in the competition will carry away their jobs. What is the government doing about it? Not very much. Nothing at all.
The government spent $6 billion on an infrastructure program and the President of the Treasury Board said it created 8,000 permanent jobs. This is 8,000 jobs for a $6 billion investment. Was that value for money? I do not think it was. As I have said many times, the government would have been better to have put the money in the bank and given the people the interest.
There are many more things I would like to speak about, such as the privatization of NavCan and CN Rail. We are now hearing that the food inspection branch is going to be set up in some kind of unaccountable, removed from government, removed from criticism by the members of Parliament. We hope it is going to do a good job.
The government says it is committed to cutting down on waste. There are many issues that I would love to talk about and continue on. I have only got to the first half of the first page of the minister's speech. I could go for days. Unfortunately I cannot.