I thank the member from Etobicoke for his thoughtful questions.
With respect to the last question, perhaps he should ask his Liberal colleagues on the House of Commons finance committee who voted to recommend that the foreign content limit be raised to 30%. This is not simply a Reform idea. Apparently the wisdom of allowing Canadians greater flexibility in the management of their retirement savings has even struck a chord with his own Liberal colleagues. The answer to his question of why should we allow people to do this, it is because it is their money. That is why.
The member's question reflects the premise that it really belongs to the government and we allow Canadians to do what they will with their own money. No, we start from a different premise which is that it is their money and they have the prior right to decide how to allocate it.
I would like to give further consideration to the private member's bill put forward by my colleague from Medicine Hat which would in fact eliminate any limit on the foreign content. But I would at least go so far as to adopt the recommendation of the House of Commons finance committee.
With respect to the purportedly balanced budget that the member boasts about, I remind him that that budget came about because 75% of the deficit reduction came about because of increases in revenue. Only 3% came about through real program spending cuts in Ottawa's own budget. The balance was cuts to transfers to persons and transfers to provinces, cutting health care, raising taxes. That was the Liberal solution, not ours.
Finally, with respect to the brilliant, historic budget introduced last week by Stockwell Day, the provincial treasurer in Alberta, I was honoured to be in that legislature when that budget came down. It was day one in a common sense revolution to change and reform the tax system in Canada. That budget provides a generous exemption of $11,500 per person, or $23,000 for a family of two. It is not a flat tax because a family that earns $23,000 in income will be zero rated. They will not pay a dime in provincial income taxes.
Single moms are getting taxed by this government even if they are below the poverty line because the exemptions are so low and have not kept pace with inflation. But in Alberta a couple who earns $23,000 under the brilliant tax reform strategy proposed by the Alberta government will pay zero tax. On earnings of $46,000 they will pay 5.5% provincial tax, but on earnings of $92,000 they will pay 11% tax.
It has the advantage of being both progressive and simple. It has the advantage of being family friendly. It removes the tax discrimination against single income families perpetuated by this federal government by delinking from the federal system. At the same time it has the advantage of not penalizing people who are successful and earn more revenue.
I thank the hon. member for bringing that to our attention because the Alberta tax plan is an ideal model for federal tax reform.