Madam Chairman, I find it very interesting that the hon. member brings up the proud institution at which I received my Ph.D. some 35 years ago.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I have been infected by all the knowledge the bank where he used to work has broadcast. I used his documents in my classes at Simon Fraser University where I had been teaching for 25 years.
We are living in Canada, not the United States. That was a diversion of attention which I am sure the viewers of this debate will see right through. I did not get an answer to the question. The minister did not respond at all to the challenge that the deficit is $17 billion according to the budget. The same budget provides information which says that if the government stopped its accumulation of unemployment insurance fund surpluses, the deficit would not be $17 billion but $22 billion. He did not respond to that at all.
My questions about targeted employment levels, forecasts of employment and unemployment rates were not answered. I cannot even dignify his answer by saying indirectly it was a total smoke-screen. This is a breaking with historic precedent. It used to be a yardstick. When those government members sat over here on this side of the House, they constantly reminded the government on what the promises were on the unemployment rate and why they were not delivered.
I would ask the minister to respond to one other thing in this budget. The finance minister's father was responsible for introducing to Canada one of the achievements of which we was most proud, the universal access to social programs.
Universality of access to social programs. I looked it up in the dictionary. It is defined as receiving benefits without any questions being asked about the background of the individual. We all know that this is very important and efficient. It gets rid of the means test. It prevents people from hiding assets. It prevents all kinds of inefficient changes in behaviour and it increases the dignity of people who are enjoying these benefits.
The previous government introduced a slight violation of the principle of universality by saying to certain old age security recipients that they could get the money but if they were too rich, the government would take it back. Some people have called that a break in universality. I do not want to argue about that. One could interpret it this way and one could say that universality had already been broken by the previous government.
I think the hon. finance minister's father would probably turn in his grave if he knew that his son was responsible for breaking down the principle of universality. In the finance minister's proposed treatment of old age security benefits, eligibility for the first time since the 1970s will be based on income. A means test has been reintroduced. It is necessary to point out that it was this government which did this.
I would like to hear what the minister has to say to the people of Canada, all the strong supporters of members of the Liberal Party who went into the election campaign saying: "We have a record of looking after the welfare of people and universality is a sacred matter". What is the answer to the people of Canada who put their trust in the Liberal Party in relation to what it has actually done in this budget?