Mr Speaker, I am not ignoring the crying of Canadians. I am listening to the crying about their taxes.
The Reform Party tax program will yield fairness and simplicity like the parliamentary secretary has never seen before. If he would read it he might understand it.
The parliamentary secretary talks about universal medicare, pension plans and old age security. In Canada, 65% of our medical money goes in the public sector to look after people. In the United States it is 53%. Every senior citizen in the United States has medicare. Maybe the parliamentary secretary did not know that. Every senior citizen in the United States has medicare.
The government should not try to scare seniors about how the Reform Party will hurt them. I am not that far away from being a senior citizen. I will make sure seniors are well protected and will speak on their behalf, but the government should not use that old Liberal tactic of scaring people that the Reform Party will take something away from them.
The Reform Party will lower taxes. The Reform Party has offered to increase the transfer payments on medicare. Members opposite have not read our brochure. We have also agreed to increase payments to education, areas that increases in payments are needed in. We fought about those during the election. We will talk about them now. We will look after senior citizens with a much fairer taxation program.
The Liberal Party still taxes senior citizens. A senior citizen making $15,000 with no other income will pay $1,300 in tax to the government. Does the member think that is fair, even if their medicare is free? They could have free medicare across the line also. Seniors are looked after in the United States.
Someone living in the United States could buy a medical program. It costs so much a month to be covered under medicare. Anyone on welfare is covered under medicare. Fifty-three per cent of the dollar goes to medicare in the United States. It does not have a national program and we do. We have the best program but it has to be well funded, looked after and fair.
Hon. members must get calls from people. I get them. Maybe they get them more in provincial government offices. People with health problems, with heart problems, tell us they have to wait four months to get tests done. They may die of a heart attack before they get in there. If they have cancer, a brain tumour, they may have to wait three weeks to get an MRI. This is what is happening in some places in this country. It is not right. That is why $5 billion went out of the country and across the border. Those people were not prepared to wait to get something done here. That is one of the problems.
I do not know why the member would try to scare senior citizens about old age security. He should read the Reform platform. It is fair. We look after seniors in our program. I ask him to read it and to have some compassion.
Where is that Liberal compassion we all hear about? There is no compassion in charging $1,300 in tax on $15,000 in income. It may be more than that with the seniors benefit. There is no Liberal compassion there.
When I was a young man all my family were Liberals. I was always taught that Liberals had compassion. That is why one was a Liberal. It seems to have changed.
Those who are wealthy do not mind paying taxes or giving to the Liberal Party, but we want to be fair. We want to make sure that single parents do not have to pay the abusive taxes they are paying right now. We want to make sure that seniors who are on their own—and there are many of them—do not have to pay the unfair taxes that are there now. That is what we are talking about. We are talking about lowering taxes, about lowering taxes for young people who are just starting to work.
They get jobs that pay them $24,000 to $30,000 a year and suddenly the government starts grabbing a third of that. That is not fair. They should be given a chance to get going. Taxes should be lowered for people who earn under $30,000.
The Reform Party would eliminate taxes for people under that level. That would get the country going and that would create enthusiasm. It would create private enterprise. It would get away from the socialist attitude we are getting from the Liberals and the New Democrats.