Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Lévis. In connection with Bill C-10, I shall be attempting to strike a totally different note from what I have been hearing since this morning. I wish to speak of the government's borrowing authority.
Can we still afford to borrow? When all our credit cards are charged to the hilt, can we still afford to borrow? We should keep in mind how things were years ago in our families, in Quebec and Canada. Very often, Mother controlled the budget. She knew that the family had to live on the money that was available. Money was only borrowed as a last resort, generally to acquire such major items as a home, when there was no other way.
Today this government is borrowing right and left, borrowing to meet day-to-day expenses, borrowing just to buy its groceries, as it were. It is even going so far as to dip into the UI fund, the workers' fund, in order to get billions of dollars to reduce its deficit.
The government certainly does not seem to have the same family tradition as I. Why does it want to borrow so much money? And how, more importantly, can it want to continue to borrow and to put the people of this country further into debt? The budget presented by the Minister of Finance contains all of the answers to these questions, I think.
This government is not tackling the deficit, yet it is shouting from the rooftops that it has solved Canada's financial problems. Untrue. We know very well that, at the end of this year, the debt will have surpassed the $600 billion mark. You may well say "but that is just a drop in the ocean". The problem is, the government seems unaware that the ocean is raging out of control.
What is worse still, I think that it is stirring up the winds of storm even further with this bill. We need only look at what is going on in our own ridings. People are taking to the streets and with reason. Their message to us is clear.
Borrowing, at some point in time, also means having to pay back, and that is what we are doing. We are paying back $49 billion a year in interest and more than half of this goes abroad. It is money we could use, money that could be invested at home to create jobs for young people, money that could be invested in paying jobs and in research and development-all to improve things in our communities. But, no.
Why is this government rejecting the evidence. Why is it not putting its shoulder to the wheel when it is asking the disadvantaged to do so even more? I need only think of those receiving UI, who had been hoping to hear about jobs from the Minister of Finance, but who, once again, can see that those opposite are doing nothing about their problems, except add to them.
Here again, I repeat, he is using the unemployment insurance fund to refloat his deficit. People are not unemployed because they want to be. They are forced into it. It is jobs they want. If the money in the UI fund was used for jobs, the Minister of Finance could settle much of the problems of his deficit and his borrowing power.
Generally, what people want is to survive without government handouts, but the minister has forgotten this. Digging in the pockets of the disadvantaged is something they know how to do. What about asking those who use tax shelters to make an effort-not a chance.
What about setting up mechanisms to plug the loopholes that enable taxpayers to avoid paying income tax-not a chance, either. Instead, a committee of alleged experts is set up and is to report within a few months. Reports like these often end up on the shelf.
Just ask someone who is unemployed if they know about tax havens. Those who come to my riding office do not even know what a tax shelter is. They are looking for a job.
The Liberal government can no longer meet the needs of those of its citizens in greatest difficulty. What is more, it is also passing on to the provinces a shortfall problem. The government is announcing it is cutting dairy subsidies. It keeps on increasing expenditures.
In this year's budget, it will spend an additional $104 million; great management, indeed. Moreover, the government wants to add to the debt with this bill. Enough is enough. It is about time our friends across the way realize that the Canadian people has had it, it is suffocating.
The finance minister should look at what has been happening in Quebec lately. This is a responsible government which consults people and takes their views into account. This is a government which wants a better future for its people.
When can we expect the Liberal government to go through a similar exercise? When can we expect the people opposite to listen to Canadians? Is this government afraid of true consultation? To look at what is happening with its unemployment insurance reform is to know the answer. As I was saying earlier, people have taken to the streets, and they keep on coming. This government is lending a deaf ear. These people are not protesting because they are lazy, this is not true. Nor because they are arrogant. They are protesting because their livelihood is at stake, their family's livelihood is at stake. I cannot help but repeat that the Liberal ship is rudderless in an ocean of troubles.
She is taking with her millions of people who are suffering and have no trust in the government. This government does not deserve their trust, anyway. Why? Because it has betrayed their trust. It is certainly not by putting the country further into debt that it will redeem itself and regain their trust. Therefore, we must fight any further borrowing with all our strength.
The finance minister should go back to the drawing board and make new suggestions. The Bloc Quebecois, in the Standing Committee on Finances, offered solutions; he should try them out. He should try to offer Canadians real solutions such as the one the Bloc Quebecois made.
But since it is not possible to review them all, I will mention only this one. The government could try to collect the $6 billion owed to Revenue Canada. The auditor general has criticized the government on several occasions for failing to do this. What is being done to collect from some 77,000 corporations which pay no federal income tax? I believe we should stop compiling statistics and start trying to get the money where it really is. The Bloc Quebecois made suggestions. Borrowing is not a solution. Therefore, we cannot support any further borrowing.