Mr. Speaker, I listened very attentively to the speech by my hon. colleague, who described in a general way the monster that Canada's debt has become. I wish to point out to my hon. colleague that this monster was created by the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Liberals created this debt under the guidance of the hon. Peter Trudeau and raised it to almost $200 million. The Tories then brought it up to where it is today and the Liberals, on regaining office, assure us that it will reach $600 billion very soon. We fully agree that the debt has become a monster.
Second, my hon. colleague has just told us that we stand on the brink of bankruptcy, another statement which we totally agree with. I think that our comedians are often much better than politicians at describing some situations. A Quebec comedian, Daniel Lemire, is always saying that we should probably declare bankruptcy and start over under a new name. That is exactly what we will do soon.
The government is now saying that we must deal with this monster, that we are on the verge of bankruptcy and that they must and will make cuts. They will cut unemployment insurance, social assistance, transfers to the provinces, increase education costs, generalize the GST-they will give it a different name but charge it on everything. They will probably eliminate the only tax shelter available to the middle class, RRSPs, and tax retirement funds. All this is sending out a clear message: they are attacking ordinary people. The Bloc Quebecois agrees that the debt should be tackled and that cuts should be made. This is not a problem. But we are against singling out ordinary people. That we disagree with.
While complaining about the lack of money and the huge debt problem, they easily find the billions of dollars needed to finance an unprofitable project such as Hibernia. While telling us there is no money left, they easily find the hundreds of millions of dollars they throw out the window every year, according to the Auditor General of Canada. They also give tax credits worth millions of dollars to the hon. Peter Trudeau and Brian Mulroney for returning their papers to the government, while telling ordinary people that tax credits will be cut.
My question is this: When cleaning stairs, one does not do only the bottom steps. I would like to know if my hon. colleague has ever cleaned stairs and if he realizes that he should start at the top and work his way down?