Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
There's a very old saying, Mr. Chair, that the truth hurts. When we understand on behalf of Canadians that the costly coalition wishes to spend more money than it takes in, then we also know that there are going to be ways in which it is going to raise taxes.
The carbon tax is the biggest tax grab. We hear now that as relevant as it is to this particular bill, they want to increase capital gains on professionals, including physicians, people we lack in this country. Some estimates would suggest that we are short approximately 30,000 family doctors in this country. Then when you begin to do the math and look at the capital gains tax increase that they wish to do, it's a 6% tax grab.
The audacity is that.... People say 6% is not that much, but it is, considering that physicians who are either retired or are close to retirement will have to pay it out of the savings that they have calculated that they would need to fund their own retirement. As we begin to consider that and as we hear the statements now coming out of the Canadian Medical Association to suggest that the fiscal practices and policies of this government are incredibly inappropriate and short-sighted, then yes, the truth can be hurtful to the costly coalition in understanding that this year they will run another deficit of approximately $60 billion in perpetuity. We don't see an end to this.
Look at the debt clock for Canadians—you can look that up on the Internet if you want—to understand on behalf of every single person in Canada how much is owed, on behalf of yourselves, because of allowing the costly coalition free rein and the ability to decide how to spend money in a manner that is not responsible.
Whether my colleague opposite wishes to hear these points repeated or not, do you know what? I think that if you hear them over and over again, then maybe at some point they'll sink in. Then the next time that he's sitting around with his caucus mates, maybe he'll say, “Wow. Hey, wait a second. Maybe we shouldn't spend $2 billion more.” A billion here or a billion there is not much money to think about, but I hope that maybe he will hear my voice resonating in his head, saying that he probably shouldn't vote for spending this money. However, I don't hold out a whole lot of hope for that, Mr. Chair.
The point of CPC-13 is really related, again, to providing clarity to Canadians that this is about progress on providing universal coverage of pharmaceutical products; this is not a pharmacare bill. It is a pharmacare pamphlet of four pages.
Once again, as we heard through testimony from multiple witnesses.... I also would suggest that what we are seeing here is that the costly coalition wants to disregard or disrepute the testimony of many of the witnesses we heard that this is purely about contraceptives and diabetes. That is what this is about. It's not about other medications. There's no other mention. There's no other witness testimony related to it. That is not to mention the fact that there was really no witness testimony related to an expert helping to create this bill, which is why it's such a disaster.
At that point, Mr. Chair, I'm happy to cede the floor and hear what others may have to say.
Thank you.