Madam Speaker, I want to say from the very start that I am so bloody mad I could spit at the moment. If we are very quiet we can hear the jackboots of the Liberals trampling over the democratic rights of the citizens of this country. We can hear them in the hallways. A dark fascist cloud hangs over this institution today as the Liberal government has brought in closure on this bill and the representatives of 30% of the voters of Canada will not be heard. They will be muzzled. The 30% of the people who voted Conservative and the 30% of the people who voted New Democrat will not be heard on this multibillion dollar budget bill. We say that is wrong. It is disgusting. It is anti-democratic. It is simply wrong and it is unparliamentary.
That is not where it ends. This is the final stage of an anti-democratic sweep by the government.
After the legislation was introduced, after post-budget considerations that were essentially ignored, we heard 88 representatives who came before the finance committee with a whole set of very positive recommendations for change. There were 88 interventions. Amendments were brought forward. Did government members listen to a single one of those 88 interveners who proposed changes? Not a single period was changed. Not a comma was changed in the legislation. It makes a mockery of the system. It is a slap in the face to all of those witnesses who appeared before the committee. I say that is wrong and undemocratic.
I have to be careful because I could get worked up. I have a whole speech that I am supposed to read on behalf of my caucus. The Conservatives had a representative who wanted to make a speech today, but we are unable to do that. We are not allowed to. There is something wrong with a system which says that 30% of the electorate is simply cut out of a discussion on this budget legislation. It is wrong and it is something the government has to change.
I thought the Tories were bad under Mulroney. We were up here day after day saying what a bunch of scumbags they were because they were introducing closure, introducing time allocation, cutting off democracy and making a mockery out of this place. The Liberals are actually worse. It is unbelievable.
I have a couple of comments about the legislation. To start with I want to talk about the millennium scholarship fund. Let us acknowledge that this millennium scholarship fund, at best, is going to help about 7% of students who need help today. As a matter of fact, it is a lot less than that. About 7% of college and university students may get assistance. Ninety-some per cent will never see the benefit of this.
Does the government take its commitment to education seriously by reinstating transfers to the provinces for education? No it does not. Does it take its position seriously by doing what every OECD country does by providing federal leadership on access to education? Does it do that? No, it does not. It brings in this little flashy millennium scholarship fund. I can see it now. All the cheques will be signed by the Prime Minister and sent out to all of the students as a good public relations gesture.
Yes, it will help a handful of people in need, but will it help provincial governments in terms of their tuition fees? No, it will not. Will it help the thousands and thousands of young people today who are indebted up to their eyeballs, the average debt load being $25,000? Will it help them? No it will not.
Then it refers to the employment insurance fund. We find out today that the employment insurance fund will have a surplus this year of about $16 billion or $17 billion. By the end of the year it will be about $19 billion. By next year there will be a surplus of about $25 billion.
That is stealing money out of the hands and pockets of employees and employers across this country. No wonder we have the deficit under control. Money has been taken out of the pockets of the hardest working people in the country. It is wrong.
The government says that it is going to provide an incentive to encourage employers to hire young people. That is going to help 1% of the hundreds of thousands of young people who are out of work today. One per cent may benefit from this initiative. That is hypocrisy. By saying that they are going to do something, that they are going to help 1%, is like taking a slap in the face for every unemployed young person. That is wrong.
I could go on. I have a whole speech I could give, and I have not even started yet, but I cannot because the government has brought in closure and says that certain MPs—