Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin my intervention in this debate by welcoming the new human resources development minister. This is a huge area. I have been the critic in this area for quite some time. I know this minister is committed to doing a good job. I will certainly commit to helping her with the best advice I can give on how to carry out her responsibilities.
The second session of the 36th Parliament and the throne speech which opened it were the subject of more hype and convenient leaks than in any previous session in my time in this place.
In recent weeks we had media carrying many interviews with cabinet ministers and all sorts of insider leaks promoting the expectation that the government had an imaginative plan of vision for the future of Canada as we enter the next century and the next millennium. With the opening of parliament delayed by three whole weeks for the government to get this just right, we all waited with bated breath for this wonderful vision to come forward. What happened? The throne speech contained the usual Liberal feel good rhetoric and much less actual content than was expected even on the big centrepiece, the children's agenda. There is no clear vision as we enter the next millennium.
The theme of the Prime Minister's speech when he followed up in the House was emotive jargon: hope, confidence, optimism, working together, boldness of vision, courage to act, best country in the world, et cetera. He reiterated all of the usual bromides: society of excellence, strong, united, dynamic, innovative, diverse, cohesive, sharing, every child gets the right start in life, young people with a chance to grow, access to skills, quality health care; all of the things that nobody in the House, let alone the whole country, would disagree with.
What was missing was one single, solitary, cohesive plan with specifics on how to achieve these wonderful things that we all want for our country. This is the lack of leadership that we suffer from in this country: a Prime Minister without specifics, simply falling back on platitudes.
In case people listening think that of course we are going to say this in the opposition, let me quote from some commentators. Andrew Coyne called it “a compendium of bland truisms and vague declarations of intent”. Another commentator said the speech shows the government as being “bereft of vision”. Even the normally Liberal-friendly Toronto Star noted that the speech was full of platitudes and short on specifics.
We need a sound vision in this country. We need some specifics. Where are we going? What is it going to cost? Where is the money coming from? What will be the benefits to people? There was none of that, just some nice emotional words.
To top it all off, the Prime Minister had the nerve to call all of this the Canadian way. It is the Liberal way. It is the Liberal way of muddiness and fuzziness and murkiness and feel good rhetoric, without delivering the sensible, sound, specific plan this country needs.
What is the Liberal way? It is bureaucratic meddling; intrusive government; Ottawa knows best, especially how to spend our money; no hope for workers to keep more of what they earn, but instead they can expect to keep half of what they earn; no liberation from excessive taxes; more and more of the nanny state, a model that has failed over and over across the world; and no vision for the future that would appeal to our best and brightest young minds.
What is the Liberal agenda? After all of the words, after all of the speeches, we do not really know for sure. All we can do is examine their past behaviour, their past record of missing the obvious. Remember, it was these Liberals who were opposed to free trade, the only thing practically that is carrying our economy today.
What about the other important issues that are burning in Canadians' minds? What about agriculture? Our farmers have lost virtually all of their income. Their income has fallen to 2% of what they earned last year. Would anybody in this House like to have his or her income cut by 98%? Would there not be a hue and cry for something to be done? There was not a mention by the government on how to deal with these people in crisis across our country.
What about immigration? We have solid people from across the world lining up to be in this country. What happens? We have people smuggling and illegal entrants taking up those spaces that could be taken by people who have a commitment to doing things the way the law says they should be done.
What about defence? We have a military that is literally falling apart and falling out of the sky. There was not a word about how to restore the pride that we used to have in our forces.
What about the fishery? There is violence in a country like Canada: people against people, citizens against citizens, community against community. Yet, this visionary government did not even mention that, never mind come out with a plan to address it. It is a shame.
The Liberals are totally out of touch with Canadians. Canadians want less government, not more. They want to keep the money they earn. They do not want to have to turn it over to government, which then says “Have we got a program for you”. These programs simply do not cut it for the majority of Canadians.
One commentator spoke about the only specific in the Prime Minister's speech, which was to extend maternity leave. The commentator said:
If Canadians were taxed less, they could have a whole range of choices. Taxes are the business of government. Parenting is not. If this government truly wants to help Canadian kids, it should ease the tax burden on parents.
We need flexibility and choices as parents and as citizens of this country, but no, the government wants to take our money, put us into its little box, its little program and it will decide what we can choose. It decides where we can go. It decides what kinds of choices are available to us. That is not the way to run a good country.
We have the Liberal record that my colleagues have talked about so many times over the last few days; a government that says it will give tax relief when in fact it is taking $2 billion more in taxes next year than it did last year. That is not tax relief, except to a Liberal who wants to say one thing but do the total opposite.
What about health care? Health care transfers have been cut. Cash transfers are still over $4 billion a year below what they were when the government took office. That is $4 billion that should be going into health care services in the country which the Liberals have taken out and not returned.
The government talks about wanting to help our children. Look at its track record on that. Ask aboriginal children how well the government has looked after them. Many of them are living in poverty and squalor, and they lack services.
What about military families who are getting by on subsistence wages with substandard housing? The government is totally responsible for the wages and housing of our military and their families.
What about farm families, children who are losing their entire heritage while the government stands by without a word?
What about the children whose parents have hepatitis C from the ineptness of government? The government says “Sorry, your parents cannot get insurance. They cannot get mortgage insurance. They cannot do a lot of the things they need to provide for you and your future. Too bad, you lose”. That is how the government looks after children.
I have already mentioned health cuts. How do they impact parents and children? Yet, the government has the nerve to say it cares about children and families when everything it has done in the past shows completely the opposite.
We need a plan that will really carry us into the future, with something solid that we can count on and something that really gives us choice, flexibility and a bright future. That plan was enunciated in the House by the Leader of the Opposition in a speech that had the substance that this tired, sad, incompetent government failed to deliver.
I commend to all Canadians the plan we have put forward, which would give real choice, flexibility, freedom and the protection of family resources and the resources for which we all work so that we could build the future we want together.