Mr. Speaker, I remember the day well, but then of course promises are easy to come by from that side of the House because they will promise anything and they seldom deliver.
We just talked about the fact that the correctional services people are potentially going to go on strike, but they will be legislated back to work before they go on strike. I have not figured that one out yet.
Why are we dealing with the firefighters? I was not even aware they were talking about going on strike. Then we have the heating and power workers, ship crews and lighthouse keepers. I know they have a problem. As we have automated the lighthouses we have put them right out of business, completely and forever. We had to fight that on the west coast to try to maintain safety and to ensure that the people who travel up and down the coast do not run aground. As well, there are the general service workers. These are the people who have been wrapped up in this draconian piece of legislation.
My friend is perfectly correct in saying promises, promises, promises. The only thing the government did was balance the budget on the backs of taxpayers as it hiked revenues by 25%. The government did not tell us that it was going to hike revenues by 25% to balance the budget. It may get small credit for that, but it is now manipulating the numbers to try to ensure that we pay more taxes and we do not get the services.
There is the millennium scholarship fund. The taxpayers have put $2.5 billion in the bank and there will be no benefit to students until next year. Then we have the $3.5 billion for health care, paid for by the taxpayers, and no money will be spent on health care until next year.
Those are the types of promises. The government stands and says it is doing wonderful things, but when we look at the fine print it does not work out.