Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for recognizing me immediately after my distinguished Liberal colleague from the beautiful riding of Stoney Creek finished his speech.
In his 20 minute speech, he raised a few points which may be worth looking at again.
First, he said interest rates are currently the lowest this country had ever seen. I would submit to him that, conversely, I experienced the highest rates at a time when I had a substantial mortgage. As it happens, his leader was sitting in the finance minister's seat, or very close to him, at the time. I have paid rates as high as 22 percent at a time when this same Liberal Party was running the country.
The debt is now $620 billion, or thereabouts. I will remind my distinguished colleague that the Liberal Party, which ran the country from 1970 to 1984, except for the nine months of Joe Clark's government, managed to make the accumulated deficit grow to $250 billion. The Conservatives made it grow twofold from 1984 to 1993. Since 1993, the Liberals have been at it again and, as a result, it has now reached $620 billion.
The GST. His leader had promised to kill it. The ruse he found to lull some Atlantic provinces was the harmonization that Quebec had already carried out in 1991-92 and that should bring in to Quebec about as much as was offered to the three provinces that agreed to harmonize their taxes. He therefore owes the people of Quebec some $2 billion.
He talked about jobs. I find it shameful for a government to take between $6 billion and $9 billion a year out of the employment insurance surplus to finance the deficit reduction effort. I fin it shameful for the government to come and boast in this House about working for the unemployed, for youth, for our students who are looking for work and training in their field. It is shameful and I am convinced that his constituents are not proud of the speech their member has just delivered.
I urge my hon. colleague, whom I had the pleasure to meet more often when we were sitting together on the environment committee, to try to raise awareness in cabinet and in the party to which he belongs, to make them more responsive to the demands of the working class.