Madam Speaker, it certainly is a pleasure to speak on this budget debate. I am sure the Liberal members who had questions to ask of my colleague will also have some to ask me when I am finished.
When the Liberals took office, Canadians were paying $125 billion a year in taxes. After five years of the Liberal government in power, we are now paying $162 billion in taxes. By the year 2000 we will be paying $173 billion in taxes according to this latest budget. That is a $48 billion increase, $5,000 for every taxpayer in Canada.
When the Liberals took office, we were $500 billion in debt. A lot of that was blamed on my colleagues from the Conservative Party but the Liberals were in power before them. Between the Liberals and the Tories it was $500 billion. Today one would think from all these great speeches on the other side that we had eliminated that debt. We have a deficit that is down to zero, or so they say. The debt is at $583 billion. The Liberals have increased that debt in their short term in office by $83 billion. That is at a cost of $6,000 per year for every taxpayer.
The Liberals have the chequebook out again. They get the deficit down to zero and they come up with $11 billion in new spending. No tax relief and no debt repayment.
Like all other members, I was in my constituency last week going from community to community. A Liberal member asked a question about small communities. I was up in the Sunshine Coast in the area of Sechelt. A great little business seminar was going on. It was business opportunities. A lot of government departments were there, both provincial and federal. They were giving out information to small business. A lot of small businesses had some great ideas which I thought we could use in this House.
One of the people at that conference who was with his wife pulled me aside and told me about some of the things they were concerned about. I asked him if he would mind writing them down and faxing them to me on the weekend. I told him I would be speaking on the budget and I would like very much to pass his comments on to my colleagues in the House of Commons.
I would like to read some of the comments that the husband and wife made. These people are in their retirement age. They state: “Currently there is a lot of concern regarding planning for retirement especially for taxpayers 50 to 60 years old due to the uncertain changes to old age benefits. Taxpayers in this group do not have the time to overhaul planning for their retirement which has been based on long term legislation. Accordingly, now that the budget has been balanced perhaps consideration could be given to some other alternatives that would take into account the time factor that is so critical to long term planning for retirement”.
They talked about an old age pension phase-in to change the entitlement. It is not a bad idea. It is being done in other areas. They talk about age 56 to 65 in the year 2000, no changes with benefits at 65. People of the age 46 to 55 now in the year 2000 will receive old age pension at 66. People of the age 36 to 45 in the year 2000 will receive old age pension at the age of 67. People now age 26 to 35 will receive old age pension at 68. People age 12 to 25 in the year 2000 will receive old age pension at 69. Under the age of 16 in the year 2000 people will receive old age pension at the age of 70. Their attitude was that this would scale it down and help balance the books a lot quicker than what the government is doing now.
There were other concerns that my constituents had. Their comments to me were the constant delays in implementing increased RRSP limits, allowing the self-employed to an expense of half their CPP contribution to be accorded consistent treatment with employed personnel. This is a great concern of a lot of the senior citizens in my area and people who are self-employed.
Provide some relief for single income families who choose to have one parent at home to raise children. There are many responsible young parents who sacrifice much to have the mother stay at home to raise their children because they understand the importance of such a task. Our government needs to encourage this endeavour with appropriate measures that give consideration to some form of joint tax filing.
Consideration should be given to allow interest on RRSP loans as an income tax deduction restricted to perhaps the interest paid only in the year of contribution.
That is what people are thinking when we talk to them in our constituencies. They are not all that thrilled that the deficit is down. They expected when they elected this government that it would get that deficit down. The message was very clear. It was very clear to the Conservative party. It went from a great big majority to two seats in Canada. It did not take a brain surgeon to figure out that we should get the deficit down.
What has this government done for the debt? Nothing. It has announced $10 billion in new spending programs. We have to look at those programs and ask would the average Canadian not be better with taxes lowered, with just a little bit more in their paycheque. Let us let Canadians spend the money instead of forming new government programs and new bureaucracies. Let us ask this government what it is doing.
I want to talk a little bit about British Columbia. British Columbia has been a contributor to Canada for many years, in excess of what we raise in our province in taxes. We are very happy to do that, to help Canada be a united country. But we ask what has this government done in fisheries? My colleague our fisheries critic has talked about that.
I can tell you that British Columbians are pretty upset with the treatment and the respect they get when it comes to fisheries. I can only hope when I see the comments about the number of people being fired at fisheries on the east coast that they are ready to swing the broom and the hatchet in British Columbia. Let us get some action out there so we can get some employment in this area.
There is a harbour in Squamish that this government has been collecting $200,000 a year in fees for as long as you can go on. We have asked why the government is not dredging the harbour. For those who are boaters, if you read the chart it says you can go into the Squamish harbour with no problem, that there is lots of depth. Well the silt has built up. If you were to try to go into that harbour in high tide right now, you would likely go aground and somebody could be seriously injured or even killed.
We have advised the ministry of that but it says there is no money for it. Where is the money it collected? We know the government is trying to download the harbours and I have no disagreement with that as long as everyone does it fair and square. But while we are waiting for that we should not have to wait to dredge a harbour that is a danger to British Columbians and tourists who will travel into that area.
We look at immigration in British Columbia. What is this government doing in immigration? I asked a question in committee last week about what it would cost to bring that department into the 21st century with proper equipment and the answer given was $100 million. An awful lot of money, but not when you consider that there is $300 million being spent on welfare alone on people who are coming into Canada and abusing our refugee system by coming in from safe havens across the U.S. border and other areas.
Those are the types of things British Columbians want to see this government do something about. They want to look at the transfer payments to British Columbia. I said that we pay our fair share but we are suffering in health care because this government has cut payments in those areas. It should be doing more to assist and we should be getting more of our share back.
The infrastructure program is a political game with this government. Everyone has their applications in but it is amazing. I checked with my Reform colleagues. Not very many infrastructure programs are being funded in the areas with Reform members but the minister of fisheries has funding programs and the provincial government has funding programs. They are playing politics with the infrastructure program in British Columbia. British Columbians are not happy about that, no matter what their politics are. That program should be equally shared among all British Columbians.
With regard to coast guard services, we are not getting our fair share. I see Liberal members laughing. It is not a funny matter. One even sounds like a separatist. Only my colleague in the Senate has ever talked about British Columbia being separatist.
British Columbians are Canadians. They have supported Canada quite happily over the years. But we want to know that British Columbia is recognized here in Ottawa.
Premier W.A.C. Bennett, one of our long serving premiers, used to say it is a 3,000 mile flight to Ottawa but it is 35,000 miles back. That is the feeling still, unfortunately, of a lot of British Columbians.
I came to this House in 1972 and I could give some of the same speeches I made in 1972 right now with what the people in British Columbia are thinking about some of the issues as they face British Columbia. We want to make sure our voice is being heard.
It was one of the great issues in British Columbia during the last election. That is why the Reform Party won the majority of the seats and why they won the majority of seats in Alberta, and why we are growing in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It was because people there knew that a grassroots party was listening to the people, was bringing a message to Ottawa, and oh, will this place be exciting after the next election when the Reform Party sweeps Ontario and chases a lot of those Liberals home.