Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to present my views on the budget that was presented by the Minister of Finance the other day.
Perhaps I will widen the debate to include some remarks about the Canada pension plan. I know the Minister of Finance will say that is not in the budget figures, therefore it really does not matter. We all know that last week he announced an increase of 70 per cent on CPP premiums. That is going to take $10 billion a year out of business.
I remember in the last election how the Liberals ran around trying to drum up votes by saying "we will create jobs, jobs, jobs through a $6 billion infrastructure program". Well, good-bye infrastructure, good-bye a $6 billion incentive for business because now they are going to suck $10 billion out of the business world.
That is why I think we should be using Ross Perot's words, the great sucking sound of jobs disappearing, not down to Mexico as in the case of Mr. Perot, but sucking out of our economy because the Minister of Finance is sucking this money out of the pockets of business.
Let us take a look at the seniors benefit. Let us take a look at what Minister of Finance is actually talking about for seniors. Not only is he going to kill these jobs with the 70 per cent increase in premiums, but, as I said earlier today, the old age security is going to be gone. It is going to be killed, finished and gone forever.
Guaranteed income supplements that many people have relied upon in this country will be gone. In the year 2001 they will be finished and gone forever.
Seniors have been given a $3,500 tax free allowance on top of the basic exemption. That is gone courtesy of this finance minister; gone, killed, finished forever.
Seniors have been entitled to the first $1,000 of pension income tax free. Let me tell this House that tax free exemption is going to be gone, absolutely finished courtesy of the Minister of Finance.
He has the gall to stand up in this House to say he is going to replace it with a seniors benefit that is going to make everybody happy. Let me tell this House about the seniors benefit that he thinks is going to make everybody happy.
If a person has any income besides the seniors benefit, and let us talk about a senior who only has the seniors benefit and Canada pension, nothing else in the world, the Minister of Finance is going to take back half of the Canada pension plan.
It has to be a national disgrace that he can stand here and say this is good for seniors when he is going to take back half the Canada pension plan and all they have is a seniors benefit and Canada pension plan.
Then he has the gall to stand up and say Canada pension plan premiums are an investment, when no one will even be able to collect the Canada pension plan when they retire. That is the way this government is trying to balance the budget. It is through deception and through misleading senior citizens into thinking everything is going to be okay, but it is not.
Universality that was brought in by the finance minister's father is going to be destroyed by finance minister junior. That is the way it is. There is no universality any more. It is gone courtesy of this Minister of Finance. That is the legacy that he is giving to Canadians.
I look at the flowery words in the budget speech and I refer to the bottom of page 17 where it states: "Reforms to both the Canada pension plan and the seniors benefit fully protect all current seniors". If we read it fast it sounds pretty good but I draw attention to the word current, all current seniors. There is no word about seniors to be, no word about the working people who have to pay more to collect less. With a little sleight of hand a little word is slipped in. It is grammatically correct but when we look at the real meaning behind it we will find that seniors, the people who will retire in the future will get a lot less after having paid a lot more.
I talked also about the employment insurance and the scandal that is being perpetrated on the business world of this country. This morning the estimates were tabled. In part III under Human Resources Development Canada at the bottom of page 52 I see for 1996-97 a $6 billion surplus and the projected surplus for next year is $5.656 billion.
That is a travesty because the employment insurance fund is supposed to be self-sustaining to help people who lose their jobs when the business cycle is down. It is not an extra tax trough for the Minister of Finance. The minister said: "I am not raising taxes". Of course he is. He should not under any circumstances whatsoever maintain the EI premium where it is because of the huge surplus he is squeezing out of business.
The minister came out with a little sum for the young people, the university graduates saying: "I am going to spend a couple of hundred million dollars to try and get you a job". At the same time he is taking $6 billion out of the business world so that they cannot get a job. Note the numbers.
I look at pages 10 and 11 of the budget and how the numbers are glossed over. On page 11, payroll taxes, the minister said: "When we came to office, we acted immediately to stop EI premium rates from rising". Well maybe he did, but he certainly did not bring them down as he should have. While he says he is going to bring them down, it will not be for another year so that he can squeeze this money out of business and stand in the House again to say: "Boy, I am doing a great job". Business bankruptcies are at a record high; personal bankruptcies are at a record high; 1.5 million people are out of a job; and one in four working Canadians fear for their jobs because he is sucking $6 billion a year out of the business economy.
What about the health and social transfer? Government members stand in the House and say: "We will protect medicare". Protect medicare, my foot. Compare the figures for this year to those for last year and again the figures are taken right out of the estimates. The transfer for 1996-97 is $14.9 billion. That is a lot of money. Not as much as the government used to give, but it is still a lot of money. However, next year it will be $12.5 billion, a drop of $2.4 billion.
That affects a lot of hospitals. That is a lot for medicare. That is a lot of nurses and doctors who could be looking after the people in this country who need help. For the elective surgery that does not get done, $2.4 billion buys a lot. It is not being bought and it is not being provided. People are doing without because the government is keeping back $2.4 billion so the Minister of Finance can say: "Boy, am I doing a great job".
Perhaps the deficit is coming down, but he could bring it down even more. However the Liberal tendency is to spend every nickel they can find. The minister cannot keep his fingers off any money that might be available. I look at page 16 of his budget speech where he said that he intends to spend 25 per cent of any excess over projections so that he can blow it away on little Liberal programs that are going to buy votes in the next election.
Let us remember that the excess over the budget predictions, the deficit having come down faster than he predicted, was accomplished strictly on the backs of businesses and taxpayers. Now that he has squeezed more money out of them than he had originally anticipated, he is going to take 25 per cent of it to buy votes at the next election. It is despicable.
My friend for Calgary Centre gave the finance minister an F for failing to deliver a budget with integrity; for failing to deliver the kind of budget which Canadians deserve; for failing to deliver jobs; for failing to deliver health care; for failing to deliver education; and for failing to look after our seniors.
That is how I feel about this budget.