Mr. Speaker, in the hon. member's presentation, he talked about how the government is quite proud of its record on health care, education and jobs.
The finance minister, of course, expressed that this morning. On a CBC television program, he said: "We are going to focus our spending on things that really count to Canadians. That is what our values are: health care, education, children and job creation". I guess the two are giving the same message.
Those words are quite nice but when we look at reality and the record of this government on those issues, it is quite another story. When it comes to health care, we have seen a 40 per cent reduction in spending. There was a 40 per cent reduction in transfers to the provinces. Mr. Klein said 42 and that might be closer. I am not sure. That is the reality.
It is the same thing for education. There has been a 40 per cent reduction in transfers to the provinces.
With respect to job creation, unemployment rates are still at almost 10 per cent, compared to Japan at 3.4 per cent and the United States at 5.4 per cent. The record of this government on jobs is totally unacceptable.
Beyond that, the hon. member talked about how the unemployment rate has actually dropped somewhat since the government took office. That is true, but we are looking at a larger than ever portion that is underemployed. There are far more people underemployed than under the Conservative government and there are far more people who are afraid of losing their jobs. The record on jobs is nothing to be proud of.
I would like to ask the member to respond to the clear difference in the words, the actions and the record of this government.