Mr. Speaker, I have a comment and a question for the member for Medicine Hat generally on the debate yesterday and today.
I see a tremendous circus spectacle being undertaken here. Jugglers from all sides of the House are throwing brightly coloured balls into the air, diverting the attention of Canadians from what is really happening behind them. The political agenda of both the government and the Reform Party is being ignored while the public watches all these coloured balls but Canadians see through this. They are not watching the balls in the air any more. They are concerned about what is happening behind the jugglers.
We see today in particular the Reform Party's finance critic talking about jobs and what would happen under the budget. I have to accept all of the critical words the member for Medicine Hat has put out with regard to the government's record on jobs. The government's record is abysmal in this regard and the government knows it.
The member for Medicine Hat also knows that the program which created no job creation in this country is the same type of program he would advocate were he the finance minister. There would be additional cutbacks in the public service and tax breaks to the large corporations which have not produced any additional jobs in this country.
I would like the member for Medicine Hat, who is Reform's finance critic, to comment on some of the numbers that have come out of the budget, in particular one set of numbers. In 1993, the last year of the Mulroney government, 5,250 taxpayers earning over
$70,000 a year paid no taxes. Under the current government there has been a 400 per cent increase in that 21,270 Canadians who earn $70,000 a year or more paid no taxes. There are more Canadians paying less taxes or no taxes-