Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed listening to the address by my leader, the hon. member for Calgary Southwest. It is the only address I have heard on the budget to this point in the House that actually made any sense.
We saw a budget tabled yesterday that had some tax increases and some spending cuts. However the problem I find is that our total national debt, the GDP ratio, remains unchanged. It is still
around 73 to 75 per cent, which means that we are not gaining any ground.
Yes, we are experiencing some pain as taxpayers. We are going to pay more to put gas in our cars. We are going to pay higher taxes and, yes, we are going to see some reduction in services. We are going to see it at the bottom. We are going to see 45,000 people cut from the civil service and very little cutting at the top. That means services to Canadians are going to be reduced.
We are going to see some pain. We are going to see some additional costs but we are not going to see any gain. We are not going to see any better future for our children in the long term.
Would the hon. member talk about the positive aspect of the Reform taxpayers' budget in that respect in light of the budget tabled by the minister yesterday?