Mr. Speaker, lately Reform Party members have been spending a lot of time talking about Atlantic Canada. They have made a couple of trips east and now claim to be instant experts on our region.
For example, these Reform experts believe that the Atlantic fishery is dead, even though it was worth over $1 billion last year; that we should have been softer on foreign overfishing; and that the federal government should get out of Hibernia, despite the fact that it creates thousands of jobs and means millions of dollars to the Newfoundland economy.
As a Newfoundlander born and raised, who lives and pays taxes in St. John's East, I would like to tell the third party what we do not want. We do not want the Reform slash and burn agenda, which includes massive cuts to UI, health, and regional development. We do not want the Reform plan for a flat tax, which would guarantee that poor people are taxed at the same rate as the rich.
It is clear that Reform's ignorance is far greater than its knowledge of Atlantic Canada.