If the hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre is not satisfied with that, I can find another quote to settle her down. “They have no excuses left. There is every reason why the Manitoba government must take immediate action. Hospital and home care services in Manitoba have deteriorated too far”. Who said that? Dr. George Kelly, president of the Manitoba Medical Association.
I notice that the New Democratic member for Winnipeg North Centre has suddenly fallen silent. I hear nothing but silence from that side. The testimony hurts does it not?
The fact is in the budget we provided health care dollars to the tune of $11.5 billion. Most people in my province of Manitoba are very pleased. I got a letter today from a constituent who said that he hoped this money would be well spent. Just a few minutes ago I was in the process of replying to that constituent pointing out the fact that the spending of that money falls within the ambit of the provincial government. It is up to the provincial government to spend that money wisely. I trust the provincial government will do that because it is answerable to the people of Manitoba.
If the hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre does not like the message on health care, maybe I could please her a little on the question of taxes. Again we had some good news regarding taxes. In the last two budgets, the finance minister, who probably will go down as the finest finance minister in this century, the finance minister, with the support of the Prime Minister, with the support of cabinet and with the support of the entire Liberal caucus, has been able to provide in a gradual incremental way tax relief of over $16 billion. Is it enough? I suppose it is never enough but we are on track and we are on track toward further tax cuts. Relief last year, more relief this year. If everything goes according to Hoyle, if everything goes well, there will be more tax relief next year which is exactly what Canadians want.
I say that because we got into this deficit and financial pickle over a long period of time. Most Canadians understand that if it takes a long time to get into it, it will probably take some time to get out of it. The finance minister knows that; we on this side know it. We cannot do it overnight, but we are doing it. We are doing it with purpose and the job will be done. I know it will be very hard to convince the people on that side of the House, especially the hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre, but we are going to get the job done.
I want to quote another Manitoban. This was on health care. It is by Dr. Gary Glavin, associate vice-president of research at the University of Manitoba. By the way, he is a constituent. He stated “This is the first time that I have been excited about a federal budget”. How do you like those apples? That is coming from people who normally do not say great things about federal budgets.
The hon. Harold Gillishammer who is the new minister of finance for Manitoba spoke very highly of the budget when he said “This budget was billed as one with tax reductions and increased expenditures in health care. Certainly the federal government came through”. Those are the operative words, “came through”. He went on to say “They have balanced the budget, they have reduced taxes, and we believe in that to make this country more competitive”. Imagine, that was said by a Conservative, who is hardly a Liberal flag waver. These are not bad comments from opponents.
Perhaps I will quote one more individual. This is certainly not from a normal Liberal flag waver. The fellow's name is Victor Vrsnik of the Manitoba taxpayers association. They are usually very critical of anything that Ottawa does. This is what he said about the budget: “The Canadian Taxpayers Association is delighted the finance minister is tuning into the message of tax relief. He is eliminating the 3% surtax and he is raising the basic personal exemption, which will mean that poorer or lower income Canadians will only start paying income tax now after $7,200 as opposed to $6,500”.
There we have it. I think that is pretty good testimony. But we are not going to stop at that. Even if we have silenced many of our critics, even if many of our opponents are saying good things, we are going to continue to do a good job because Canadians want better health care and they want lower taxes.