Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments on Bill C-35. It seems to me that we are bringing in a fix for a problem here that was not properly thought out when the agreements were struck. It strikes me also that this is not an unusual problem.
As we talk about the Canada pension plan, we are involved with short term planning with the determination that there will not be long term planning. We can understand why that is. The government is in such a financial mess that it cannot look farther down the road than perhaps two or three years so we are stuck with a mess, planning from day to day how we might get out of that mess.
We see the problems with the medical plan in Canada, largely as a result of not thinking and planning and preparing as we go down the way, thinking into the future. We see this in the trade, as the hon. member talks about.
Countries like China which have come out of terrible situations with large populations and an economy that was doing nothing for them have been able to plan, to put money in the bank, have trade surpluses and provide for the long term future for their citizens. It should be possible for a country such as Canada with the wealth of resources that we have had and have squandered to be able to do some long term planning as well.
The commodities, the agricultural products, the mining, the petroleum, the wood, the forests have kept us in the secure position we have had up to the point we are at. These have been our treasures, but these are no longer going to carry the weight for us in this modern technological age.
I am dismayed that there is no long term plan for the future of Canada. We are going day to day and year to year. I believe the government has a serious responsibility to begin planning in a way that protects the future of our citizens.
Many of us are here for the benefit of our grandchildren, and yet we see such a small and limited future for our grandchildren in the scope of planning as it exists today. I not only call on the government to begin thinking things through for the long term and not for the present day, but I also want to ask my colleague if in his estimation these changes that are being instituted are going to serve us well into the future, or is this just an immediate short term plan for the shortcomings of the day.