Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the whip of our party and pursuant to Standing Order 43(2), Reform speakers will be dividing their time.
In speaking to the resolution before us, presented by my colleague from St. Albert, we must recognize its focus and concern. The major focus is a request that the government look at balancing the budget. Instead of meeting targets that leave major deficits, it must look at balancing the budget and bringing the deficit to zero. That is what we are focusing on today, indicating to the government that there is some urgency in working toward that kind of target.
The other thing we make reference to in this resolution is a plan which the government could implement. We are requesting the government not hide behind the 3 per cent that it set for Canadians, that it will reach supposedly and hopefully in three years. We are saying it is owed to Canadians that we should go further, that the red book plan should be extended to a point at which it details and outlines programs within departments, the priorities which will be set with regard to social spending, the projections with regard to growth in the economy that will move us to the most important target, balancing the budget.
No government can sit and wait beyond one term to reach necessary objectives. The way the government is moving at the present time it is saying to Canadians: "We are going to leave you at the end of our term with at least a deficit of $25 billion". It wants to go back to the people at that point and say: "We did our job. We reached our 3 per cent". That is hiding behind the real problem, which is a truth that must be revealed. I hope the discussion on this resolution today reveals some of that truth.
Today is the anniversary of all of us being elected to the House of Commons. At this point we all have more confidence as to our purpose, our focus and the reason we are here. As finance critic, I have been given the responsibility of dealing with the finances and the budget of Canada.
One of the motivations and the reason I left my responsibilities in the Alberta government, moved to seek the nomination for the Reform Party, got elected and came to the House of Commons was a very focused purpose. When I lived in the city of Edmonton a number of young people from the University of Alberta were in my home day in and day out. Those young people were good, quality students with very excellent averages and tremendous abilities.
They said to me day after day: "We are going to get an education. We are going to be qualified to do something. But what is there out in the Canadian community that will offer us a chance to perform as we wish, to use our talents and our abilities? Will there be a job available?".
I examined that discussion and thought about it. I said to those young people that I thought there was only one place where we could resolve the problem we have, that is in the House of Commons and in the federal political arena. That was one of the reasons for making the decision to come to this assembly. I am here now and I believe the job must be done.
What do I believe? What do I believe is the secret or the road to dealing with the problem? Much of it is set out in the rhetoric and comments in the document presented in the finance committee called "Creating a Healthy Fiscal Climate". A lot of good objectives are established by the Minister of Finance and the Government of Canada. They want to work toward balancing the budget. That is a good objective. They also say that some very immediate things must be done. They set out a relationship between bringing the deficit into line, bringing it to zero, dealing with the debt and balancing the budget. In turn if those things are dealt with they will bring about growth in the economy and job opportunities for Canadians.
That is the sequence I agree with. I was very disappointed, I must say, with the red book plan of the government. In the campaign a year ago it was clearly stated by the candidate in my constituency, and I am sure by other Liberal candidates and those who were elected, that they were going to create jobs for Canadians. That is the wrong approach to job opportunity. Government cannot create jobs. It absolutely cannot create jobs.
The government initiated a program of infrastructure for Canadian municipalities in a variety of jurisdictions in Canada. Certainly there were jobs made available to Canadians. Those jobs were short term, for six months, a year or maybe two years. They were jobs made available to Canadians. They were not jobs created by the economy that would be there for a long period of time, would be self-supporting and would be part of the private sector or the private economy of our country. If those kinds of jobs are created they are long term and will will benefit our country. Certainly the Government of Canada will benefit by increased revenues into its coffers to take on its responsibilities.
In this term of office, between now and the next election, we have the opportunity to reach the goal of bringing the deficit to zero or near zero. The government must be more aggressive. I looked back on this year's performance of the Prime Minister and of the Minister of Finance. I thought about that last night and I asked myself how I could describe what they were doing. Why is it that the Prime Minister on his first anniversary is high
in the polls, at 60 to 70 per cent in terms of popularity? That is very high. Why is he so popular?
If we re-examine what is being done there is not very much being done in Canada, not very much in terms of the government. There are a lot of studies, a lot of reviews and a lot of procrastination. The only concrete thing I can see is with regard to infrastructure. That was put forward by the minister. It is implemented and it is there.
How do I describe it? We have what I would call sort of a pied piper syndrome in Canada at the present time. We have this popular leader who is leading us down the road while playing a beautiful piece of music. The people of Canada are saying: "Things are okay. It is all right. Things are going to work out". A nice song is being sung but they are not focusing on the problem.
The deficit is being ignored because of the comfort zone being given to Canadians by our Prime Minister and the Liberal government. Some day they will wake up to the fact that the pied piper is taking us down the road. I recall my father telling me the story many times. The pied piper led the children into the river and they all drowned. My father had another innovation where they went into a cave and a heavy rock rolled over its entrance and the kids were lost to the families of the town.
The same thing is going to happen here. The people of Canada are being led down the road to where they will fall into the debt hole. We are going to have a crisis because we are going to fall into the debt hole and the government is not dealing with it. That was said in the document presented to the finance committee called "Creating a Healthy Fiscal Climate". Page 25 of that document states very clearly what the circumstances are. This is the government's document. The Minister of Finance presented it to the committee on October 18, 1994.
It says that by fiscal year end 1994-95 the net federal debt is expected to be $548 billion. It also says that if program spending remained roughly in balance with revenue, compound interest alone at today's average rate of about 8 per cent would cause the debt to grow by almost 50 per cent, to more than $800 billion within just five years. That is before the turn of the century, before the year 2000. It goes on to say that by then the annual interest payment would be about $64 billion or $20 billion more than this year's forecasted debt charges. Can we imagine $64 billion out of the budget? Our budget now is $127 billion in terms of revenue, and $64 billion will be paid out of it. That is how serious it is.
The Prime Minister is getting all the laurels, all the credit, but he is leading us into a debt hole and into a crisis. The government must come up with a plan and give the people of Canada some details on how we are to be led out of this grave and difficult situation.