Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise and speak on Bill C-17.
Overspending, high taxes and the enormous debt we are paying interest on are the big, big problems this government has still to deal with.
I spoke before about high taxes that Canadians are paying, taxes that are preventing investment in Canada, taxes that are
making it necessary for both parents to go out and work so that they can pay their rent, their mortgage and feed their families.
Most of all I talked about the fact that high taxes have resulted in an underground economy that is going to be difficult to stop. Sure, we have halted some of the smuggling of cigarettes because the government has cut the tobacco tax, but in its place is liquor smuggling. Stories in this week's press tell of warehouses stacked to the ceiling with contraband alcohol. The reason for this is the high taxes that Canadians are no longer willing to tolerate.
I have also talked about the government's infrastructure program and the fact that it will not create the permanent high tech jobs this country needs. Rather, what we have coming are short term jobs, jobs that will last only as long as the government pours money into the program affected.
I mention high tech jobs and the fact that the government seems to be shying away from the realities facing this country. Whether we want it or not, high technology is already here. It is going to affect all of us at some point. The information network is the first example that comes to my mind.
But what does the government do? It announces it will be pulling out of the space program. It cancels KAON. Here the potential job programs of the right kind are to be found, high tech jobs. We are losing the opportunities to create and expand the kind of skills this country is going to need if we are to compete in future markets, markets that will be technology based.
A constituent from Williams Lake, British Columbia wrote to me about the space program. He is convinced there are very good reasons that Canada should stay involved in the space program beyond the fact that it provides an insight into cutting edge technologies. My constituent goes on to say that he does not want to see Canada put on the back burner, but not getting involved in high tech industries will put Canada on the back burner.
The future more so for the next generation is going to be exciting. High technology will ensure that this is so, but only to the extent that we keep up with all the changes. Just look at the last 10 years and the changes to the workplace brought about by computers. This leads me to my next point, being able to be a part of the changing face of the workplace.
The February budget made reference to investing in jobs and people. Today the government will introduce its five point education program and work strategy program aimed at solving the problems of this country's youth, who are rapidly becoming known as the lost generation. The aim of the program is to create a new work ethic for young people between the ages of 15 and 24. There will be apprenticeships and the Canadian youth service corps. Is this Katimavik revisited? There will be a learning package.
Apprenticeships can be wonderful things. We do need young people to have formal training and marketable skills, but we must not leave it to the government to take responsibility for teaching the people. The private sector has to take the lead role so that people are trained for the jobs that will be there, not the jobs the government thinks might be there.
The learning package is probably the most commendable part of the youth program. If it does offer hope to the youth, if it does offer promise and jobs, I commend the government on this. I sincerely hope it is not a false promise.
In Tuesday's Globe and Mail there was an article by a young university student. This student passed comment about the fact that the professor had to take time from giving the economics lecture to give the class a lesson in grammar. It is a fact that some university students, although they have got into university and will probably get their degrees, still will be unable to function effectively in the real world of business and commerce because they cannot write a proper memo. They cannot reproduce a report or a letter that can be understood clearly. This is a major problem. It is not an isolated incident.
The government intends to work developing national education standards in math, science and language skills. This is long overdue and is a good move by the government. Only when we ensure that our children can read, write and express themselves properly will we be able to see a decrease in the unemployment rates for the younger generation.
Education is a major key to self esteem. What satisfaction to be able to pass the interview for a job and to adapt to the rapidly changing world marketplace.
Although the government's first budget does have some positive attributes, it does not in any way address the most pressing problem facing the country: the need to get Canada's financial affairs under control.
Many Canadians have learned how to cut back on spending because they have been forced by economic circumstances to do just that. However it is plain to see the federal government has not learned this whole lesson yet.
Taxation at current levels is an abuse of power. We have a government that is taking money from people and businesses in such quantities that these people are unable to maintain their present standard of living.
It is ludicrous when a young person with a minimum wage job has to try to borrow money to pay taxes because his employer
did not deduct sufficient at the source. This is really being put between the proverbial rock and hard place.
It is just as ludicrous when a small business person is forced to shut down because after taxes, licence fees, the cost of special audits and all the intrusions that can come from government the income is just not there. The business closes down and the employer and employees are out of work.
At a time when the government could and must reduce its expenditures it stubbornly refuses to do so. Rather it borrows what it is unable to tax, while taking from people money needed to put food on their tables. What is the government using it for? Grants to special interest groups; building multicultural centres; enforcing bilingualism; grants to multinational corporations; duplication of services between departments and between provincial and federal governments. A lot of this is in the name of humanity and kindness.
The government talks about Reform policies being of the slash and burn kind. The Reform Party has never advocated slash and burn policies as we have been accused. Instead we have proposed a program of maintaining essential services such as health care, pensions and education while prioritizing areas of expenditure reductions with a goal to reducing taxes. Non-essential programs that are a heavy drain on the treasury have to go if we are not to go belly up as a country. Effective prioritizing must begin. The government continues to avoid such prioritizing.
For example as part of its so-called cuts in spending the Liberals have slated closing down the chinook salmon hatchery on the Quesnel River in Likely, British Columbia. The reason given is that the hatchery is uneconomical. This is true, but the reason it is uneconomical is it is being operated at 10 per cent of its capacity. How could it possibly be operating in an economic manner at such a low rate? The major risk of losing this hatchery is the real possibility of also losing the chinook salmon in the upper Fraser system. Along with the salmon will go the hatchery workers' jobs.