Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a few moments to respond to the hon. member's comments.
I will go down the list, but first let me state that I do agree with him that our tax system needs to be looked at and simplified for each and every Canadian.
I am sure the member did not become a medical practitioner by being stupid. The member said that if this government had listened to the Reform plan two and a half years ago we would have been better off. I would like to remind the member that not only did we listen to the people of Canada but even his own members listened to us and applauded us. It was after our previous budget when their own finance critic was the first one to stand up and lead the applause after the budget was presented.
It is so ironic because on two occasions the member for Saanich-Gulf Islands stood up and said that this government had gone too far and had cut too much. On the very same day I recall being in the House when the member for Lethbridge stood up and said that we did not go far enough.
I do not know what the Reform Party actually wants this government to do. We know what we want to do and that is a balanced approach.
I want to take this a step further because he touched on the health care system. I want to use the example of Ontario which most recently has put close to $400 million back into the health system and is saying that the $500 million cut slotted for 1998 most likely will not take place.
The national forum on health not too long ago announced that the problem with the health system is not that we do not have enough money in it but that we have to simply spend the money wiser. Having that feedback, we as a government took it a step further and talked about putting $50 million back into the program for the next three years. We also talked about introducing the pharmacare program. That is why we are going to insist on protecting the program.
When he talks about social conscience, let us recall that in their presentation just a year and a half ago, their approach to taking care of our seniors and the needy was to turn them over to the communities, the social services, the relatives and the charitable organizations.
They say they want to get rid of the GST, scrap the GST, as the member stated a minute ago. In their own platform they state they will hold on to the GST until they balance the budget and then they will address it.
If they were elected would they scrap the GST immediately or not?