Madam Speaker, I am sure when the government releases its budget it will sell it as the answer to everything, the answer to the government's failure to support our health care system, the answer to its failure to improve child poverty. As it has for the past year, the government will talk of the surplus and the need to decrease the debt.
Canadians are tired of the government's doublespeak. Canadians knew with the budget last year that by not going ahead with further cuts the government was not putting dollars back in health care.
Canadians know that dollars paid by workers and employers should not be used for government favours. Canadians know that the finance minister's surplus should not include EI dollars. We do not need to abuse the EI fund to put an armoury in Shawinigan. We do not need to use EI dollars to have a millennium scholarship fund as a golden calf for the Prime Minister. Without those EI dollars, the finance minister's surplus dwindles. His pat on the back should be resulting in a small burp, not the belching we must continually listen to.
In reality there should be no pats on the backs on the government benches. The social deficit in Canada has reached an all-time low. Let us recap a few of the government's wonderful contributions since the Liberals took the helm. All that is missing is the iceberg.
Child poverty has increased by $500,000. Homelessness is a national disaster. Every province has called on this government to react to the critical state of our health care system and then the member for Scarborough East calls it whining.
Government members have taken a year to clean out their ears, or is it just so bad that even they are feeling the shame and embarrassment of Canada's drop in social standing?
I want to read from a letter that I received over the break:
It is very tough to survive on old age pensions in present times. My wife and I are trying to do just that. My lady is 70 years old and I am 76. The price of necessities is rising daily and it is so hard to make ends meet.
In 1998 the government raised our medical target $300, so we now must pay $600 before we get any discount on the price of drugs. We are both on medication. This is a low blow.
The cost of living in the north is horrific. We pay top dollar to operate our cars. We cannot afford a holiday which we should be entitled to.
The federal government has seen fit to forgive a $700 million tax bill to people who are already billionaires. This will certainly fall in the laps of the average taxpayer to fill in the void.
This is the Liberal legacy as we enter the new millennium. The government had best make a good showing with the next budget. We cannot afford for conditions to get any worse. Canadians will not tolerate this Prime Minister's lack of vision. This government must make a serious commitment to the people of Canada. What are the options to improve the sorry state of Canada's social condition?
As a bare minimum, $2.5 billion must be put back into the health care system. The bare minimum. Put the EI payments back into the program. We have all heard the disgusting statistics throughout Canada as to the number of workers no longer able to collect benefits, not because the dollars are not there but because the government changed the rules so less and less can receive benefits. What good is an insurance plan if it is not able to be collected by the people who most need it?
My colleague for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre mentioned the deplorable numbers for his riding. Only 19% of the unemployed are able to collect EI benefits. Some employment insurance. In my riding $16.9 million less is being paid out in EI benefits.
Cut the GST by 1%. This along with dollars put back into EI are the greatest encouragements to job creation and boosting local economies. This way all Canadians benefit: workers, the unemployed, the sick, local businesses, not just the billionaire who got the $700 million tax write-off.