Mr. Speaker, yes, I will be splitting my time. I should have mentioned it beforehand. Thank you for trying to bring a bit of order back to the House.
The government has raised corporate taxes and imposed a tax on bank profits. Who does the government think will pay for these taxes? Maybe it does not know. I can tell everyone these taxes will be paid by the little guy, the consumer. Anyone who believes they will not be passed on to the consumer should immediately sign up for a reality check. There is only one taxpayer: the ordinary taxpayer like you and me.
It is my belief that the tax increases we have seen in the budget are an admission of failure by the government, failure to cut spending sufficiently. Above all, why would the government assume people are willing to go on through a tax increase, paying more for more government? Was the government not listening to the people of Canada? It cannot ignore the people for too much longer.
I am concerned about the long range effect of this budget. While the deficit reduction contained in it amounts to a first tentative step in the right direction, this reduction will be quickly eliminated if interest rates rise or the dollar does not remain strong. If we enter another economic downturn, all calculations will be off considerably.
I am concerned the government will not follow through on its plans to reduce personnel. No matter how governments try, and many have, to reduce the size of the public service, the bureaucrats seem always to prove more resolute in keeping their jobs than politicians are in getting rid of them.
Departments disappear or are amalgamated, but is there a reduction in staff? Not usually. If it does occur, it is usually because the public servant found another public service job in another department. There is no real reduction. We will be watching the government closely to see that it meets its reduction target.
What would the Reform Party have done in these circumstances? Unlike prior opposition parties, people actually do know what we would have done. We set it out quite clearly in the taxpayers budget. The taxpayers budget sets out exactly what we would have cut as far as programs are concerned.
By not following the Reform Party's plan, over $50 billion will be paid to service the national debt in 1996-97. The government's target of having the deficit lower than 3 per cent of the GDP is just nonsense. Either we have a deficit, or we do not. Either we believe it should be eliminated, or we do not.
We believe every effort should be made in the next three years to eliminate the deficit. Once the deficit is eliminated it allows us room to move, room to explore programs that would open up new doors for business and industry. More money would be put back into the economy.