Mr. Speaker, I have to laugh when government members say they are protecting the taxpayers. How much tax relief are they offering because of this bill? It is a big, round zero. They are offering the taxpayers absolutely nothing in this bill because they know that they will stand one day and reduce the debt by a bookkeeping entry and say “Look what we have done”, but they offer the taxpayer nothing.
As I have said, the surplus arose because of circumstances. We have reduced inflation thankfully, after this government let it run out of control. We have a debt that it let run out of control. Thankfully, because we have been here pushing hard it has brought that under control.
Now we have a situation where the taxpayer is potentially at risk so the government can look good for the next election. That is what this bill is all about.
I refer to an article in the Ottawa Citizen on March 4, 1997. I cannot say his name but it talks about the Minister of Finance's hidden cash, “Government raids $24 billion public service pension surplus”. It is a raid. The civil servants are finding that their contributions into the plan are being taken.
We are saying leave the money in the plan to protect the taxpayer. We know that if the Liberals stay on that side of the House they will be soaking the taxpayer for a tax increase the minute it runs into a deficit. They cannot have it both ways. They should be honest and say what their position is.