Mr. Speaker, the Reform Party continues to talk about how Canadians feel.
I wonder if the Reform Party has considered how the disabled feel about this budget. Their benefits have been enhanced. I wonder if it has thought about how students feel about the expanded tuition credits and deductions they are going to get. I wonder if it has thought about how seniors feel now that there is in place a seniors benefit program and amendments to the CPP which will guarantee pensions and disability benefits. I wonder if it has thought about how Canadian parents feel about the enriched child tax benefit.
Has Reform thought of how the Canadian tourist industry feels about the significant injection of funds, or about how the technological industry in Canada feels? How about the agricultural sector? How about the youth strategy, the jobs and opportunities? These are also Canadians and they understand that the government has delivered a budget of hope.
The member spent a lot of time dealing with health care and how awful it is. Let me talk about what has happened with health care in my province of Ontario. The CHST was decreased by two and half per cent of provincial revenues which is far less than what we cut our own spending by. What happened is that the Ontario government then proceeded with a 30 per cent tax increase. The National Forum on Health has stated that the problem with our health system is not money itself but how the money is spent.
My question has to do with the Canada pension plan. I would like the member to answer some questions for the House and Canadians. Do the Canada pension plan collections received by the government reduce the deficit? Do individuals, corporations and self-employed people pay less tax because they are paying a little more in CPP?
If the answers to those questions are what they should be, then the member will also agree that the government deficit increases as a result of the CPP increase in premiums because of lower tax revenue from individuals, corporations and self-employed people. The Reform Party has said that CPP increases are a tax grab, but
they are actually reducing the government's revenues and increasing the deficit.