Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10, an act to enable the government to borrow, simply should not exist. It is proof positive that the government has failed the Canadian people in trying to do that which it professes to do, which is get our economic house in order, preserve social programs and above all else, give hope to a Canadian public that so desperately needs hope.
Once again the government has mortgaged the future of every Canadian. It is borrowing on the future of Canadians, their children and their children's children to pay for today. Granted all of what we have today goes on their shoulders because previous governments, Progressive Conservative and Liberal alike, have spent wildly giving us the situation we have today.
Although the government has done a few things that no previous government has done, it still has much further to go. It is still compromising the country as we know it, compromising the very roots of Canadian society. Hence we see the great angst that exists among the Canadian people: their fear of the unknown, their fear
of the future, their fear of losing their jobs, their fear that their children cannot find jobs, their fear of losing the social programs which all of us have come to depend on for health care, for education and for pensions.
The fact that we have to borrow from the future speaks loudly to the fact that our economic house is not in order.
Reformers have been accused of being the slash and burn party. The government has repeatedly said that it is on the right track. This is a track running right into a brick wall.
The International Monetary Fund at the end of last year told the finance minister clearly that if the government does not change its targets, if it does not bring those targets more into line and be more aggressive, not only in its deficit reduction, but most important, in its debt reduction, then Canada is going to be in severe trouble.
We need not look any further than New Zealand to see the consequences of inaction. If the government does not act, if it does not get our economic house in order today, then Canadians are going to suffer. Those who will suffer the most are the poorest and most dispossessed in society. These are the people above all else who we should be here to help. The fact that the government is borrowing once again, spending more money than it takes in, is compromising the health, the welfare and the future of every Canadian.
Three years ago the Reform Party gave the government a specific, concise and effective plan to get the country's economic house in order, to get people back to work, to give confidence back to the people, to preserve social programs, to preserve programs that help those who need help. Did the government take it? Absolutely not. The government ignored it, to its peril and the peril of all Canadians.
The purpose of the plan was to make sensitive, effective cuts to government spending to preserve funding for those people who need it the most, to preserve health care, to preserve education and to preserve the core of the pension programs for those who need them for the future. The government ignored it. Yet the Liberal plan we are following is eroding away at government spending as we speak.
When we were all elected two years ago the government had $120 billion to spend on government programs. Today it has $103 billion. Next year it will have $93 billion to $94 billion. Where has the money gone? It has gone to pay the interest that must be paid on the debt, the debt that is being added to as we speak, the debt that will continue to be added to because the government has failed to balance the books. Every day Canadians have to balance their books. If we do not we go bankrupt. That is reality. The government is committing Canada to bankruptcy and that is completely unthinkable.
Why does the government not act? It does not act out of fear. I understand that. It takes courage to move ahead and address the problems in our midst. Why are the problems in our midst not addressed? It is for fear of having to lead the debate, for fear of the media and for fear of what some small minority groups will say.
However, members must have the courage to act on their principles. They must have the courage to do the right thing for the Canadian public. If they do not it will be the Canadian public that suffers. It is our job. It is not our job to play partisan politics which is what we are descending into and to an even greater degree every day. This place is fracturing into different groups rather than having the vigorous debate that is necessary to find solutions to the problems of the country.
I fear that the problems have become secondary to playing the game of politics. The maintenance and acquisition of power is the game. Canada's problems become secondary to that little dance that is going on here. That is the system and the morass with which we are faced. However, this is an opportunity to change that system and to become more effective.
As an aside, I personally believe that we need to make a hybrid model between the American system and the Canadian system to give individual members of Parliament more power, to give committees more power in enacting legislation and to enable all members of Parliament to represent their constituents rather than doing what the party tells them do. That is something that we in this party have been pushing forward for a very long time, free votes in the House of Commons. I believe it is essential for a democracy to have this because we do not live in a democracy today.
If those changes can be made then this House will provide a more vigorous and effective debate that enables members to formulate plans that can be directly applied to the problems which face Canadians today. I fear these problems are not being dealt with in an effective fashion in the House because of the insidious creeping of partisan politics among us. That is in part why we do not see action on the great problems that face Canada today.
However, it is still inexcusable for the government not to act on the economic situation by continually borrowing on the future of all Canadians.
The Minister of Finance wants to create a study group to determine how the tax system can be addressed more effectively for businesses. I will give the minister a free bit of advice. If he wants to improve the economics in Canada, if he wants to give people a better chance of getting a job, if he wants to preserve social programs and if he wants to give people hope, then he should
cut the tax rate. People should be given more money in their pockets so they can spend it.
Interestingly enough, I believe in 1991, in the dark years of the Conservatives, the Prime Minister of the day actually decreased taxes for a very brief moment in time. What happened? More money was coming into government coffers at that time than ever before. What did the government then do? It started to tax wildly. It brought in the GST and increased taxes. What did all that do? It simply decreased the amount of money coming into the public purse, crushed the economy, raised taxes, decreased the ability of people to get jobs and generally smothered an economy that could otherwise have been more vigorous.
In Canada, we have an enormous opportunity. We are blessed with enormous riches in minerals, in timber but also in the people. We have an enormous wealth of individual strength, tolerance and understanding that cannot be rivalled by any other country in the world. These enormous talents, ideas and potential need to be focused on the issues that not only affect us but affect all countries in the world. It does Canadians a great disservice not to do that.
I implore the government to use its power to work with us, to employ some of our ideas and to use them itself for the good of all Canadians. The problems of this country cannot wait another day. They must be acted on today. The solutions are out there. Let us act on them for everybody.