“I wonder why”, says my friend in the back. It is not a mystery to me. Staggering levels of taxation, staggering levels of debt and spending that is unfocused and not priorized are the reasons why.
We must get back to a situation where we shore up the foundation that is crumbling and cracking, and we can do that in a number of ways. First, we start the process of priorizing our spending. We do not waste those precious dollars given to us by taxpayers. We dedicate that money to the things that are important to Canadians.
I can say with all honesty what people in my riding say. Mr. Weston came in the other day and said “we don't want to spend a whole bunch more money but let us focus on the things that are important like health care and higher education”. The government has failed to do that. It is quick to point out with Bill C-28 that it will not cut as much as it initially said it would in areas like health care and higher education. Instead of cutting seven and a half billion dollars it will cut only six billion dollars. I guess we should be thankful for that.
If our friends across the way are doing those things, if they are cutting dramatically in health care, how do they justify increasing spending on things like a television production fund? Is that a priority for Canadians? I do not think so. How do we justify the change of the health minister with respect to tobacco and the hundred million dollars it will cost taxpayers? That sort of money should be used to help people who cannot help themselves.
We do not believe in taking the shotgun approach. We say focus that spending where it does the most good. We think those priorities should be things like health care, higher education, research and development. We think we should have lower taxes. We advocate sweeping tax relief. We believe we should take half of all the surpluses we run after we freeze spending at the current level of $103.5 billion and dedicate it to lowering taxes which will help all Canadians. It will lift 1.3 million low income Canadians right off the income tax rolls. They would not have to pay income tax anymore. I think that is the correct approach.
We believe there must be a program for debt repayment. The government has no program. It says that if there is a little money left over, it will dedicate a little money to paying down the debt. That is not an approach or a plan, it is a whim, a wish. We need a plan. The Reform Party has presented a plan that would pay down the debt substantially over the next 20 years. It would take the debt to GDP ratio down from 70% to 20% and would save $20 billion a year in interest payments. We do have a plan. We have an approach to dealing with this situation.
Reformers believe the private sector does a tremendous amount to produce the wealth in this country. The private sector produces the golden eggs that we see the government scoop up in ever increasing numbers only to turn around and have them bronzed. It has bronzed the golden eggs. It has used them very inefficiently. It takes that money which is better left in the hands of taxpayers and the wealth producers and it uses that money very inefficiently. We say leave that money in the hands of taxpayers. They will do a far better job than politicians and bureaucrats.
For all those reasons I urge my colleagues to vote in favour of this amendment and also to vote against Bill C-28.