Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be back in the House, my second time, for this 36th Parliament.
I would like to start off by thanking those people in Langley and Abbotsford who re-elected me with a fairly sizeable margin, I am happy to say, over my opponents in the Liberal Party. For all those people in my riding, whether they voted Reform or whatever party, they may be absolutely certain that we will be looking out for their affairs as equal individuals participating in our communities.
I represent communities such as Langley, Abbotsford and Aldergrove in British Columbia. They are communities with strong commitments to justice and very strong commitments to family and community values. They are also communities with great concerns about government, the size of government, the expenditures governments have and about their taxes and how they affect their disposable incomes.
I want to spend a good deal of time on this. The motion the Reform Party put to this House today, I believe, speaks well for the concerns of the individuals who live in my riding. For a government today to be talking about a potential surplus and to be fast off the mark suggesting that if we get that real fast it should find a way to spend it, I think it is quite appalling that we are back into that kind of spending mentality.
I want to relate some of the expenditures of the past Liberal government and why those kinds of spending habits are of concern to the average Canadian. I always use a litmus test. I always say that if somebody comes to my door and asks for money to spend on some government project, if it comes out of my pocket would I allow it. I guess that is the same as the government asking for money.
Let us look at some of the expenditures coming from the pails of the tax trough, which I used in the last Parliament as well. I think it emphasizes the problems most people have today with the kind of mentality this government has. For instance, $33,800 was granted to examine major league baseball in Detroit. I can think of a lot of people in my community who would say that is nice, but do we really want our disposable income reduced by that kind of expenditure. Is it really the prerogative of government to make that kind of decision? If you come to my home and to my family and ask me for some money to examine major league baseball in Detroit, I would not give it to you.
I and a lot of people across this country are asking if I would not give it to you why does the government. Does it not represent us in Ottawa? Is that not the question?
I heard some responses to this kind of critique of the government the other day during the throne speech. I was really quite surprised that some of the hon. members across the way would say such things as they do not agree with all the expenditures, some slipped by. They are not supposed to slip by this government or any government. These are legitimate concerns.
I think it is really quite appalling when one can reach into virtually any document today and find this sort of thing. When the government says to the people of Canada that it may one day reach a surplus situation and that it is going to spend half of it, panic sets in. If this is an example of how the government spends its money, we have reason to believe that the government is going to blow it out the door once again.
It spent $19,400 for a study for policing the boundaries of male sexuality from 1880 to 1930. I suppose that may interest some in the country. How does this improve our economy? How does this help the person with less disposable income in our communities today? Are these people even going to get to read this sort of study? Where is the value and where does government get off presuming that it is the wisest expenditure of our money?
If the government was really wise, it would make a suggestion that it will spend perhaps 50% of the savings made by cutting out these ridiculous expenditures. There would likely be no critique from this side of the House on that. Instead it basically says “We will ignore this kind of situation and we will spend more over and above that.” I ask the House, does that make any sense whatsoever? I think not.
Well, let us blow $105,000 on career markers and personal performance strategy development of expert and novice symphony orchestra conductors and provincial ice hockey coaches. Let me ask members, if someone came to my door and asked me for a portion of this $105,000 or any other hard working income earner in this country, would they get the money? If not, why did the government presume to spend it on behalf of these people who would not give it?
I suppose we might as well blow another $49,249 on a cross cultural study of semiotic management and transformation of facial features in the makeup and masks of performers or $20,000 to examine the ecclesiastical courts of 19th century England or $35,000 for a study on craft industries in post-medieval Iran. I could go on but the list kind of makes me just as sick as it does the folks at home watching this.
The message I am trying to get through to some of those who do not listen well on the other side is that this kind of stuff is not going to go away. For the next four years we are going to drill it and drill it and drill it again until the public finally gets enough and says that it is time the Liberals were put out of office. It is time that they thought the 50:50 split on the surplus should have gone to something called taxes, to lower taxes. I know it is difficult for members over there to understand. It should go to lower debt payments which will lower taxes.
I am not the only accountant in the House. This is economics 101. It is so basic, yet it is so hard to understand why the government in its throne speech can talk about spending more and not talk about trying to spend what it had a lot more wisely.
I have a few notes here. This is rather interesting. If the annual interest bill was converted to $100 bills and stacked the pile would be 118 kilometres high, a pile 214 times higher than the CN Tower. That is a great stack for a government. I know some of this was created by the previous government, but we cannot always blame it for everything. The fact is that this government overspent in the previous four years and added to the debt well over $100 billion. These folks have borrowed one hundred thousand million dollars in the last four years.
It is too bad that the message has not come through yet, but the Canadian public can look forward to us telling them over the next four years what a terrible job the government has done and what a terrible thing it is about to do, spending more money when it could be saving the dollars it has. It is shameful.