Social Security System  To shift the focus from making programs sustainable and available to the truly needy, to using them primarily as a means to attempt to create jobs, has far reaching implications that require a clear public mandate, not just an assumed one. For these reasons, the new philosophy being now introduced by the government ought in my view to be examined by the committee, especially whether it carries the judgment of Canadians.

Points Of Order  I think the matter is quite clear to all members of the House. I thank the hon. government whip for responding and I thank the hon. member for The Battlefords-Meadow Lake for bringing the issue back to the House following his original intervention some days ago.

Federal Public Service  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that members of the third party speak from both sides of their mouths. On the one hand they ask us to reduce the expenditures of government; on the other hand they complain when we do exactly that by reducing the size of the public service.

The Budget  Last fall the finance minister presented a grey book which is symbolic of these grey compromises between spending cuts and tax increases. Now it is abundantly clear that the government lacks what it takes to balance a budget, just like Mulroney and Wilson in 1984. Will the Prime Minister confirm that the colour scheme for the budget that his minister will deliver next Monday will be pale yellow?

Income Tax  In case the front benches have their hearing aids turned down, let me repeat the message loud and clear: no more taxes.

Hon. Lucien Bouchard  Anything else is shameful manipulation. Quebecers deserve better than that after all. For my part, I say yes to one clear question. I say yes to a strong Quebec, I say yes to a unified Canada.

Social Security System  Mr. Speaker, we were given a clear mandate on the things in the Red Book we said we would do. In a very short time we have delivered on most of those promises. We have dealt with a number of issues. I have to say that has not been the case for the proposal that came forward from that hon. member's party.

Unemployment Insurance Act  He said his colleague in transport and he had been involved in discussions with the primary stakeholders and that the details of the discussions would be made available once the budget was tabled in this House. The message is clear. We will not have any more information until next week. The minister's response to this, in a minute or two, will be, I expect, a good couple of minutes of fine speech-making, devoid of content.

Supply  We set out the various programs that we wanted to keep, the programs we wanted to maintain as a social safety net, the programs we wanted to enhance, and we have set it out in very clear language with figures backing it up. All the various financial houses were aware of what we were trying to do. The budget is going to come down within a week. We should all wait to see what it says, what it does, what thrust and direction it takes, whether it follows in the same path as the first budget, which it will do, and whether we are on the right target.

Supply  Today most Canadians cannot even afford to contribute to RRSPs and yet the Reform Party is saying it can eliminate old age security, the Canada pension plan, all of these things that the government does. All it has to do is let people contribute to RRSPs. This is not clear thinking at all. Reformers are out of touch with Canadians and out of touch with the basic communities. The Reform budget includes a two tier health system, the slash and burn to our health care system.

Taxation  Speaker, I have not wanted in the House, out of due deference to the fact that it was only presented this morning, to engage in debate on the package presented by the third party. Let us be very clear. First, it causes an enormous amount of harm to very poor Canadians who are unable to adjust. Second, it is totally lacking in details. The devil is in the details. If they are going to do a budget they should at least have the courage to say what they are going to do and not have vague concepts.

Provincial Transfers  How can the finance minister consider the transfer of block funding to the provinces without clear guidelines on the best way to spend the money from the minister responsible for social programs?

The Budget  If he read Moody's statement he would have seen there was a general comment on the level of public debt in this country both at the federal level and at the provincial level. There was a very clear trend set out going back a number of years in terms of what previous governments had done and the failure of Canadian governments to come to grips with their problems. There was no comment on this government, our targets or the forthcoming budget.

Dairy Farmers  Speaker, I met with farmers from my riding last Friday, and I had the pleasure yesterday of meeting with the president of UPA and other leaders of Canadian farm organizations. I assured them that Canada's position is quite clear: the GATT agreement reached last December gives us the right to maintain tariffs at their current levels and Canada's position is absolutely logical and defendable. We intend to say this clearly to the American president when he comes to this House.

Interest Rates  This agreement has served Canada very well, and we intend to go on with this policy. Having said this, I would like to congratulate the hon. member on his very clear questions.