Mr. Speaker, I too was on the tour with the committee on social program reform with the hon. member for Cape Breton Highlands-Canso. There are some things he has not said, because what everyone talked to us about, everywhere, and the budget makes no mention of, is the matter of job creation.
One of the questions I would like to ask him is why the budget contains no objectives for job creation. There are criteria for the deficit. They decided that, to control the deficit, it had to be brought down to 3 per cent of the GDP. Why did the government not set objectives for itself in terms of job creation? There is nothing about that anywhere in the budget.
At the same time, we are told that banks are going to be taxed in the amount of $100 million. When, however, during the tour of the committee on social program reform, did people tell us that another $700 million should be cut from the unemployment insurance program? As for the block transfer, yes, a possible block transfer for social programs was recommended, but did the committee recommend cutting $7 billion in this area in the next two years? There is a difference between a block transfer and a transfer after cuts are made. There is a significant difference between the two, which I consider important.
I have another question and, in this regard, I can sympathize with the issue raised by the Conservative member who spoke earlier about transportation subsidies and the people who live in the east. It is true that they said: "They want to get us off unemployment insurance". Everyone in Canada knows that nobody goes on unemployment insurance for the fun of it. They are on it because of the way the economy is. At the same time, however, they said: "Give us a period of transition to do it".
Why did the government, in its transportation assistance program for the Atlantic region, not follow the recommendations made by the industry, by the people locally and by the economic development officers and why was there not a gradual decrease in these types of taxes, so that, in three or five years, a new economic situation could be achieved, over which the people in the community would have total control?