Mr. Speaker, I will explain today why I am opposed to Bill C-28.
This bill is an insult to the Canadian people. It consists of nothing but rhetoric and serves only as a band-aid solution for the mess that the Liberal government has created in this country. It is so complex that even Canada's most respected taxation experts have difficulty in understanding what it is the government is trying to do. How insulting to Canadians.
This bill allocates $1.5 billion extra to the Canada health and social transfer. The CHST goes from $11 billion to $12.5 billion when in fact since September 1993 the Liberals have done nothing but cut. There is a lot more needed in order to restore funding to post-1993 levels.
What the Liberals have actually done, if I look at the rural riding which I represent, they have created a mess. The unemployment rate is extremely high and there have been no job creation targets. We have hard working farmers who put in long hours to make ends meet and fishing communities that once thrived off their traditional trade. We also have a forestry industry in this riding. Nothing has been created to help these regions. My riding is full of tiny communities that are homes to many small businesses. All of the cuts over the past several years have directly affected mostly the rural communities.
Liberals seem to think this is a gift. They are trying to portray themselves as the saviours of all Canadians when in actuality they are the bandits who took the money out of the hands of the people who needed it the most. This little increase in spending proposed by the Liberals will do little to offset the hardship faced each and every day by the people in my riding.
I call upon the government to increase funding in health care and education, to put an end to poverty, to reinvest in social programs and to carry through with the recommendations regarding pay equity and the seasonal workers exemption.
What about the gentleman in St-Louis-de-Kent who had to undergo a second triple bypass surgery because he could not afford his medicine? What was the cost to keep that person four weeks in hospital? What about the two students who are reported to have student debts of $32,000 and $51,000? How can the Liberals be proud of that? I am ashamed and so should they be. That is not what Canada is all about. How will Bill C-28 help out those individuals?
The federal government has been preoccupied with economic development in foreign countries and with bailing out southeast Asian markets with billions of Canadian tax dollars. Yet the Liberals continue to neglect their own people, the very same people who sent them a very clear message in June 1997 in case they have forgotten. I am living proof.
What about economic development in Atlantic Canada? People are not looking for handouts from the federal government. They are looking for jobs, real jobs with results in real paycheques so the people of Atlantic Canada can live real lives.
Let me say a few words about the reality in Atlantic Canada. There were the cuts to employment insurance. Now we have people who no longer qualify for employment insurance benefits. Only 37% of the unemployed are eligible. Was the program really designed to help the unemployed? I think not. Job creation is a major challenge and we must start setting goals in this area.
The small and medium size businesses in our communities are in trouble. That is the reality.
Creating opportunities for youth and preventing the brain drain that is on the rise in Atlantic Canada. Sixteen thousand people left Newfoundland in 1996. Let us think about it. I do not think we can all move to the western part of the country.
It is also important to remember what the Reform Party wants in terms of taxation. Reformers talk about how low income families will pay less tax. It is very important for the low income family to realize that, God forbid, if we did have a Reform government not only would the low income family maybe pay a little bit of tax but it would also pay for its children's primary education and for health care.
Reformers do not talk about the tax breaks they would be giving to their wealthy friends. Under a Reform government you would not have a pension unless you were very wealthy. If you could not work enough to save in the form of RRSPs, you would not have a pension. It is very important to remember that.
Atlantic Canadians are very hard workers. They are not lazy.
My constituents are not lazy. They are proud people who work very hard. However, in recent years, the Liberals have only taken advantage of them, and this is not fair.
Until this government makes jobs its number one priority and tackles the crisis in Atlantic Canada, the federal government will not get my vote. I would not be representing my people if I supported this bill.