Mr. Speaker, I am glad to observe that my friend from across the House was taking notice of Reform so much, accusing us of rhetoric, although I do not know if he is concerned.
Listening to this debate, what concerns me is that it goes back to the same old Liberal ways of doing business. Their way to solve a problem is to throw money at it. They do not think beyond the first level. They say they are going to solve this by throwing more money at it and the problem will go away.
If any party has supported small business, it is the Reform Party. We have worked very hard toward that.
The problem here is not giving more money to the small business program. It is the taxes that have been imposed on the small businesses. That is where the real problem lies.
Look at the employment insurance provisions and the taxes there. The Canada pension plan is the single largest tax grab in the history of this country. Who does it affect the most? It affects small businesses. Their premiums will go up significantly. If the tax structure were made a lot more friendly especially for small businesses starting out, they would have a much better chance of being successful.
Their idea is to throw money at them and hope that the problem goes away. We all know in that when businesses are starting out they have a very difficult time, especially in their infancy, when they are starting out, in their first year. The percentage of businesses that go under is very high.
I suggest to this government that it look at the tax structure and at providing incentives for these businesses as opposed to just throwing money at them. Too often we have seen examples of this government, how it gets itself out of messes and again it is the old spend, spend, spend.
We are very concerned on this side of the House that as we approach a balanced budget, and we know we are getting there, we may be there now, the shopping lists are coming out from all the ministers. We know they are lined up at the Prime Minister's door and this is just an example of one of them.
Yes, we have some grave concerns. Let me give a few examples of how the Liberals just throw money at problems. We have seen the Airbus scandal. How did they solve that? Pull out the cheque book and keep offering more and more until they finally accept. There is the solution.
Look at the Pacific salmon dispute on the west coast. We saw all these lawsuits coming forward and the government trying to broker a deal. Alaskans have lawsuits against Canadian fishermen to the tune of $3 million. Our government's solution is to offer them a $2.7 million settlement.
Again, just throw money at it instead of really going to the heart of the problem and trying to find the solution. It has not done anything. It is the same situation there.
Again I suggest to the members opposite that throwing another billion dollars into the small loans program may be great for a few businesses that will have access to more money, but if they have sound, viable business plans and they go to the banks, they will have no problem securing financing.
I will sum up in a few words. Do not throw money at the problem like always, look at the real problem, cutting taxes.