Yes, a little bit. That should be challenged because it is a significant amount of money. Around the world people would say Canada's debt ratio is the highest next to Italy's.
What has the government done? While we wallow in debt the federal government forgave some of the debt owed to it. For instance, it forgave Colombia's debt of $2.8 million, El Salvador's debt of $2.7 million and Honduras debt of $3.3 million. It is ironic that we are forgiving the debt of some of these places. It also forgave Nicaragua's debt of $900,000, Costa Rica's of $2.3 million and Egypt's of $9.6 million. That is $21.5 million.
Yet the RCMP, which is fighting crime in British Columbia, has to cut out overtime and ground its planes because it has an $8.5 million problem. I wonder what it is that makes those folks on the other side think like that. There must be some other perspective. That must be wrong.
The government has given out a bit of money this year. It gave $120,000 to the Prisoners Support Action Network; $54,000 to the United Steelworkers of America; $49,000 to the Prison Art Foundation; $46,000 to the Canadian Atlantic Lobster Association; and $51,000 to the BCTF, the British Columbia Teachers Federation. This amounted to $320,000. Yet at the same time the government cut back on RCMP overtime, ground its planes and ditched its boats. In a province rife with drugs we do not even have some drug investigations going on after hours. Must be something wrong with that.
I looked a little further to see how the government spent a little more money. It has given close to $1.3 million for the development of a more diseased resistant banana in the Honduras. Is it any wonder the average person including the police get quite appalled with a government that says “You have $8.5 million problem so we are cutting back on all our services that protect the people in British Columbia, but we are going to give $1.3 million to find a better banana in the Honduras?” Is it any wonder the average cop on the street sees the whole exercise as darn futile?
Let me give members some other ideas. The police know this because I have told them. I mailed a letter to them. Members ought to see the responses. They are appalled that this kind of money is being spent, this revenue taken in from the taxpayer is being spent this way, and much less small amounts are being taken from the RCMP to protect our citizens.
Did the government fund any conferences? It took about two minutes to look it up. Sure, it did. It gave the International Conference on Visual Poetry, $10,000; the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, $10,000; Ukraine and the New World Order, $9,000; Canadian Association of Irish Studies, $8,700; Canadian Society for the Study of Names, $3,900; and the Society for Socialist Studies, $12,000.
When I showed this to the police they asked who were the rocket science people across the way who thought this stuff up and cut us back. Who are these people?
There must be something else. Maybe I should look at publications. I say to the RCMP that the government spent $90,000 on the Canadian Business Economics publication, $37,000 on the Canadian Journal of Law and Society, $28,000 on the Dalhousie Law Journal, $57,000 on the Osgoode Hall Law Journal and $45,000 on the Professional Regulation of Accountants.
Let us put this in perspective. These amounts of money are being spent but it is cutting back all overtime of the RCMP. It is grounding the RCMP's planes, boats and all its training. The RCMP cannot investigate drug investigations after hours. We have a 9 to 5 police force in British Columbia. Is there no perspective here?
I looked a little further. The Department of Agriculture developed an information kit for the 300 MPs in the House. I do not even know where it is, but it spent $200,000 developing it. Yet the government has the unmitigated gall to cut back on the services of the RCMP.
We must be getting close to the end. However the government likes to poll and find out attitudes about matters, perhaps APEC and the country's attitude toward pepper spraying students. The government spent $622,000 for one company to poll. The Angus Reid group received $688,000 and Ekos Research $1.3 million for a total of $2.6 million, which is more than 25% of what it took away from the RCMP which fights crime in British Columbia.
It gave $1.4 million to professional and technical support for municipal authorities in Czechoslovakia. It gave $473,000 for a grant to reintegrate Malayan soldiers back into their society for a total of $14 million, which is more than the whole problem in British Columbia. It gave a grant to provide Canadian built locomotives to Senegal. It gave $2 million in a grant to promote the use of electrical energy in Brazil and $450,000 in a grant to establish the Lebanese parliamentary institute. The Minister of Canadian Heritage gave $15 million for free flag handouts.
Let us put this into perspective. I come from a province which depends on the services of the RCMP, not a 9 to 5 operation. When the government cuts back on that money to spend on these projects, there is something seriously wrong in the House of Commons. There is something seriously wrong with the government putting things into perspective.
How much time do I have, Mr. Speaker? I am splitting my time.