Mr. Speaker, the government appears to have a hearing problem. While Canadians coast to coast are saying "no new taxes", the government chooses to hear "keep on spending".
That would explain the Liberal revenue minister's statement that the government will not listen to the anti-tax protests. "Such protests", he says, "will not change the government's position on the budget".
For a month I have been circulating an anti-tax petition. Judging from the heavy response, the tax revolt is just beginning to make itself heard. It took only a month to gather anti-tax petitions with 20,000 signatures, which I will be tabling today.
Twenty thousand more Canadians from Victoria to Halifax are joining in a revolt against a government that has yet to realize that it has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
The battle over the budget is just beginning. In case the front benches have their hearing aids turned down, let me repeat the message loud and clear: no more taxes.