Mr. Speaker, we have been listening all day to speakers from both sides of the House expressing their views on how to run this country rationally. We are presented with the following alternative: on the one hand, cut services, social services naturally, and on the other hand, increase taxes. Never was sound management mentioned.
When I was mayor of Garthby township, we were required to bring down a balanced budget, because municipalities were not allowed to have deficits. When I see a government trying to play Santa Claus, wasting public funds, being generous, extremely generous and acting in such a way that the next two or three generations will have to pay for this generosity today, I cannot help but worry about the fact that we need to borrow in order to pay current debt charges.
I could give this Liberal government a number of examples of sound management. But last year, before Christmas, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and member for Hull-Aylmer travelled aboard a government jet to go and deliver two ten-minute conferences on the benefits of sound government management, at a cost of $170,000. Also, the restaurant on the 6th floor of this building lost $2 million last year, and most of this deficit is due to the fact that senators and members forget to pay before leaving. Apparently the waiters do not run too hard after their clients either. Two million dollars.
The operation of the other place costs $65 million each and every year. The government could manage a little better. When I hear that good taxpayers owe government $6.6 billion are these friends of the regime? I do not know. Corporations, companies, small and medium size businesses owe $6.6 billion. The government is forced to borrow today because it is dirt poor, yet it does not collect what is owed. A government that is unable to collect its assets does not deserve to govern the country.
Mr. Speaker, I think that you too were the mayor of your municipality, so you know full well what happens to voters who do not pay their property taxes. After three years, their property is sold off to pay taxes.