That is right. They talk about the fact that there have been no tax increases. When they were on this side of the House they very clearly understood there were two ways to increase taxation. There is the honest way, where they increase the tax rate and take the heat from it publicly. Or, there is the sneaky way where they do it by plugging some so-called tax loopholes and with excise taxes and other such taxes. That is the way the government has opted to go.
I do not believe for a minute Canadian people will to be fooled by this, not for a minute. It is them at the end of the day, the end of the week and the end of the month who have less and less money to spend on essentials: food, homes, gasoline for their vehicle to get to and from work, and raising their children.
We must look at the real facts if we are to discuss the 1997 budget and the deficit. Both Liberal members across the way revealed quite correctly that the deficit had come down from $42 billion when they came to power in 1993 to somewhere in the neighbourhood of $19 billion today.
They look at that and say: "What a wonderful achievement. We are on the road to victory". Let us look at how that was accomplished. It was accomplished by $24 billion in increased tax revenue achieved in a number of ways. I spoke two hours ago to the 1996 budget and referred to the fact that a substantial amount of the increase was because of something called bracket creep.