Mr. Speaker, copies are available at Room 200 West Block for anyone who would like one. This morning we released this budget, which charts a course that would eliminate the deficit in three years with no tax increases. No other opposition party in history has achieved this and we are very proud of our accomplishment. We have worked hard as critics and as members of this party to make that happen.
I am sure that the government's spin doctors and certain members of the media will see this as a great opportunity to cast our party in a negative light. They will read through our 60-page budget searching for that one sentence which they think will make us look bad.
It will not work because Canadians are smart enough to know how hard the Reform Party is working to provide an alternative vision for this country, smart enough to appreciate that we are being honest with them about the size of our economic problem and smart enough to ignore the mischief of political spin doctors who think they can manipulate people with the stroke of a pen.
The days of old line party manipulation are gone. The people of Canada are now in charge. They have shown it through the referendum, they have shown it through the last election.
The targets we have set in our taxpayers' budget are real and achievable. They are tough but they are fair. They are explicit and come with explanations as to why we are making the suggestions. I urge all Canadians to get a copy of the budget or the summary and read it for themselves. The Reform Party is willing to accept the judgment of the people of Canada, not the spin doctors.
We want our alternate budget compared with the Minister of Finance's budget next week. I believe that Canadians will agree that the government's target of 3 per cent of GNP is just not good enough. When Canadians read through our document they will notice there is a wide array of expenditure reductions. I would like to talk about the ones that affect my area, foreign affairs.
Over the past year the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs has conducted a comprehensive review and made a number of suggestions for possible cuts. Although we were not successful in convincing the committee that there should be these cuts, I might summarize the three areas where we suggested them: in bilateral government to government aid; in international grants and non-mandatory contributions; dropping memberships in a number of non-essential international organizations.
We belong to hundreds of organizations. Some of them are not even functional any more. We want the minister and Prime Minister to stop using this aid package as a slush fund every time they take an international trip. We also believe that there should be a substantial cut to the operating expenditures for foreign affairs in CIDA. In total the Reform Party is proposing a cut of $1.3 billion to our international commitments over the next three years. We are proposing not only cuts but a much greater emphasis on accountability, transparency and efficiency in delivering the service.
While these cuts are steep, we believe they reflect the priorities of the grassroots of Canadians. We believe they could be implemented in a way that would preserve those programs to the greatest of their value.
In conclusion, the people of Canada are sending a clear message to cut the deficit to zero in three years and not to raise taxes. The government will either do its job and listen or it will travel the road the Tories took, the road to nowhere. This is the government's last chance. For Canada's sake I hope it will choose the right road.