Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to be provided with the opportunity to speak to Bill C-36 and the official opposition amendment.
It was most unfortunate to bear witness to our government attempting to play fast and loose with the financial books of the country. We have a world renowned organization of professionals called the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Members of this group are contracted all over the world to audit financial records to maintain the integrity of financial statements.
The Minister of Finance's recent methods of creative bookkeeping make a mockery of Canadian professional accounting practices. All the minister can say is that he knows better.
We have the office of Auditor General of Canada. His office has a budget of approximately $50 million. Approximately 500 people are employed to scrutinize government programs and financial activities. The auditor general has been most critical of the minister's creative bookkeeping.
How does the government react to the very office set up to monitor its finances in the interest of Canadians? It provides thinly veiled threats to its servants who are attempting to do the job they have been mandated to do. It tells its own watchdog that the finance department is in charge and if the auditor general does not like it then the rules will be changed.
I sincerely hope that this is not an example of what Canadians can expect, should the Minister of Finance ever fulfil his goal of becoming prime minister of the country.
The issue of cooked books is just a symptom of the disease. Sometimes I wonder whether the Minister of Finance is conducting himself in such an irrational and questionable fashion merely to draw attention away from his failure to address the real problems of his budget.
The main element of the recent budget was the establishment of the $2.5 billion Canada millennium scholarship foundation, but the funds are not to be disbursed until the year 2000.
Canadians get little in the way of direction or assistance from the government for the years 1998 and 1999. Finally, in the year 2000 the millennium fund kicks in. Who benefits? In 1996 there were 1.7 million students. The millennium fund will only help 2% a year with $5,000 grants. It will not necessarily help the needy. It will often aid those who already have sufficient means to fund their education. It only helps those who are continuing their education.
Millions of our youth do not have the interest, background or qualifications to gain the opportunity of this fund. It will be limited to a few. It will do nothing for those who do not go to our universities.
I recently attended a forum put on by street youth, just some of those who will not be eligible for the Prime Minister's millennium fund. At this forum there was a great deal of soul searching and relating of tragic stories: abusive homes, alcohol, drugs, hopelessness, cynicism. Name it and it was there.
These kids are a major component of our next generation and society is doing very little for them. They have been forgotten by the budget. Indeed, they appear to have been forgotten by those who loudly profess to care for them. Even though there were about 150 young people attending the session, there was not one Liberal or NDP member of this place to be found, even though the gathering took place in downtown Vancouver, their constituencies, miles away from my own.
After cutting billions of dollars from transfer payments the government appears to think that our next generation's problems are to be handled by the provinces and territories. The government attempts to characterize any critics of the Prime Minister's memorial fund as being anti-education. They say the fund is all about a stronger future for our young people.
Actually this government is more concerned with creating a personal political memorial for the Prime Minister than it is with assisting our youth.
When the Reform Party and the vast majority of Canadians argue for debt and tax relief measures to stimulate our economy this government plays with the books to conceal any surplus. It says it will look at debt and tax relief once the surplus surfaces, but can and will that ever happen if the minister has free rein over his bookkeeping practices?
Instead of a millennium fund for students the Liberals have provided a millennium burden for taxpayers. By the year 2000 Canadians will be paying over $173 billion per year in taxes. That is $155 billion in total budget revenues plus another $18 billion in Canada pension plan taxes. This works out to $48 billion more and is equivalent to about $5,000 per year higher for the average family than when the Liberals were elected.
It may be a coincidence, but the $5,000 figure arises here as well; $5,000 more per year for the average taxpayer and $5,000 per year for 2% of our students who will be fortunate enough to obtain the millennium funds. This government has made a unilateral decision to tax the Canadian family of four and give those tax funds to a minuscule proportion of our youth. This government is not being overly compassionate or considerate toward youth—