Mr. Speaker, thank you for the extra time. I am sure my colleagues will be pleased to hear that.
Before question period I was talking about some of the free spending habits of the Liberals. I pointed to the U.S. department of energy receiving $35,000 from the Liberal government. It really needed the money. The United Steelworkers of America received $116,000 from the Liberal government; Prison Art Foundation, $51,000 from the federal government; and Feminist Literacy Workers Network, $57,000 from the government.
This is where the taxpayer's money is going. This is what is contributing to overspending by $30 billion every year. Why are the Liberals continuing to do this, continuing in the same habits as the prior Tory government? Because all of these special interest groups that are receiving these funds year after year are constantly in Ottawa lobbying the government, talking to the government, yapping away at the government for more money, being obnoxious almost to the point the hon. member for Burnaby-Kingsway was earlier in question period. All these special interest groups are standing in line for this free-wheeling, free-spending handout from the Liberal government.
In order to continue these free-wheeling, free-spending ways, what does the Liberal government do? It simply raises taxes, as it did in the February budget. It seeks approval in Bill C-90 to increase the taxation on gasoline by a cent and a half per litre to raise another billion or two billion dollars or so. This goes on and on and on. Canadians are tired of the deficit spending of this Liberal government and they want it to stop.
Study after study after study has shown that deficit spending will not create a buoyant economy. Study after study by economist after economist has said that we cannot spend our way out of a recession. The only way we can get out of a recession is to get the economy going again, and we are not going to get the economy going if we keep increasing the taxation levels on the Canadian workers and Canadian companies. This is not rocket scientist stuff. Why can they not understand this?
One of the reasons most of the economists around the world agree with the Reform Party's method of getting this economy back in shape and getting Canada out of its fiscal crisis is because when the Reform Party stands up to talk about fiscal responsibility and curing the fiscal ills we are prepared to put it on paper, in writing, very clearly and very distinctly showing exactly how we would get the economy going again, how we would reduce taxation and reduce overspending without seriously harming the Canadian people.
This Liberal government stands up every day and calls us hackers and slashers, saying that we want to cut off all these programs for the Canadian people, the programs that we never could afford in the first place and that this group over here have used year after year-and the Tories before them-to get elected.
I would like to suggest something that is not only my own opinion but also the opinion of many economists. The biggest threat to the social programs in this country is the out of control spending by the Liberal government. The biggest threat to the social programs in this country, to medicare, to education, and to things Canadians have come to depend on is not the fiscally responsible Reform Party on this side of the House but the out of control Liberal spenders on the other side of the House, and the Tories before them.
It is time this government got serious about getting the economy going again. It is time this government got serious about addressing the concerns the Canadian people have about the high taxation levels in this country. It is time this government got serious about what it takes to create real and long-lasting jobs in this country. It is time this government got serious about its out of control deficit spending.
I guess I am sad to say that I cannot believe for a minute that this party and this government ever will get serious. Let me make a suggestion to this government. If they are not prepared to get serious about addressing the concerns the Canadian people have about the economy, jobs, and taxation, maybe they should just move over and let someone else move in who will get serious about it. That of course is the Reform Party of Canada.
Unfortunately, the Canadian people are going to have to bear the pain for another couple of years. I wish it were over sooner, but it looks like another couple of years of out of control deficit spending.
I am sorry, I forgot to mention something in my speech. The hon. member for Beaver River reminded me that I should never stand up and talk about out of control spending by the Liberal government without talking about the pensions. I thank the hon. member for Beaver River for walking by at the right time.
The Reform Party did the responsible thing in this Parliament when 98 per cent of the Reform MPs in the House opted out of the pension, giving our personal commitment to the Canadian people that we are serious about cutting spending. We intend to save the Canadian taxpayers some $35 million by our simple act of opting out of the MP pension plan.
It is interesting to note that while 98 per cent of Reform MPs chose to opt out, chose to do the right thing, unfortunately 98 per cent of the Liberal MPs chose to stay in, chose to do the wrong thing. What kind of a message does that send to the Canadian taxpayers, who are watching their disposable income shrink more and more on a daily basis? What kind of message does that send to the Canadian middle income taxpayer who is suffering under a 63 per cent tax burden on their gross income? Does that send the message to them that this government is prepared to get serious about the financial crisis we are in?
I just hope that before this Parliament ends we will see the Liberal government make some distinctive, specific plan to reduce the spending habits they have, which they acquired from the Tories and which they taught to the Tories.
We have heard the Minister of Finance talk about targets, but he will never let a target stand still. He uses the phrase of "rolling targets". Rolling targets are a good way to set them, because if you miss them you can always blame the fact that they were not standing still.
The IMF, the C.D. Howe Institute, and almost every economic think tank in Canada and many in the U.S. have sent a clear message to the Canadian government, this Liberal government: "Get your spending in control and get your level of taxation down or you guys are going to be in a whole bunch of trouble". I hope they got the message.