Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on the motion by the Bloc party which says it would like to delete the component of clause 4 dealing with the provincial share of the cash contribution under the CHST from April 1, 1999 to March 31, 2004.
At the outset I would like to say that my party opposes the motion. While we are on the subject of the CHST, the Canada health and social transfer, let me dwell on the issue.
Contrary to what the government has been saying, that it is restoring funding to the CHST, it is actually restoring partial funding. In 1993 when the Liberals took power the CHST per taxpayer was $1,453. Taking this into account, today the CHST transfer after what is stated in the budget will be $1,005. There is a decrease of $448, a 31% decrease compared to the year 1993. I fail to understand how the government can say that it has restored the funding.
Perhaps many of us saw the documentary on the CBC last night on the health care crisis in our country. The nurses across the country, the front line health care workers, are saying enough is enough on the cuts. The documentary clearly pointed out what is wrong with our health care system. It all started with the federal cuts to the transfers to the provinces which resulted in the provinces cutting as well. This was when the federal government could have easily changed its spending focus and capped the health care funding, but no, it elected not to do that.
In last night's documentary the nurses were saying that they were sick and tired of cuts, of overtime, of part time jobs. The stress and the pressure were so heavy that they could not do their jobs. The nurses feel they need to create a personal bond with the patient and they cannot do that because of all the cuts.
One of the nurses pointed out that all the governments are saying that they will hire more nurses. Where will they get the nurses? It takes four years to train a nurse. Where will the trained manpower come from? Not to mention the fact that nurses are now moving south. We have heard time after time that headhunters from the U.S.A. are in our country offering incentives, bonuses and career development for them to move south.
Naturally we are facing this crisis in our health care system as a result of the government's cut in the budget. Now the Liberals will probably say they are going to throw some more dollars toward it, but it is not going to address the issue.
I got a call last night from a constituent of mine in Calgary. She said she was scared of the erosion of the health care and education systems. This woman has contributed and lived in this country for over 70 years and she is expressing fear for the future. Her exact words were “I do not know what is in store for my grandchildren”.
Canadians are scared. It arises from the fact that the government is not able to get its spending priorities in order. It has cut health care when it could have cut something else. Now it is putting money back.
There is the education system as well. Imagine the government coming out with this millennium fund. It is only going to look after 300,000 students. What about all the rest? I have two daughters in university. They are not going to be subject to anything. How are they going to be helped? Right now their debt is $20,000 and they have not even completed their degrees.
Yesterday I got another call from a constituent who is fiercely concerned about high taxes. Actually, I get calls every day in my office. Constituents walk in every day with one single theme, high taxes. They are tired of working harder and their standard of living does not seem to be rising. Their disposable income is not right.
One constituent said something very interesting. He said “Perhaps we should let Canadians have the gross amount they actually earn and then 15 days afterward they can send the taxes in that are charged to them. Only then would Canadians recognize how much money they are losing in taxes, how much money the government has been taking from them time after time”.
Yesterday we heard the Prime Minister say there is no bracket creep. That is something new we have heard. Canadians are facing higher taxes and deterioration of health care and education. Canadians are saying enough is enough.
Lately we have heard the debate on productivity. One minister is saying productivity is low due to higher taxes. The finance minister is saying that everything is hunky-dory. He was not taking anything seriously despite the fact that all evidence indicated there was something wrong with our productivity, that there was a brain drain.
The Leader of the Official Opposition talked about the brain drain last year and the finance minister would not acknowledge it. He only woke up when Nortel and the big guys said “Yes, there is something wrong. We are going to look at this whole situation”. Then he woke up. Now he has said he is going to meet with the high tech leaders to see what is wrong.
Let me say what is wrong. I was in Toronto last weekend and I visited individuals in a high tech training program. The principal told me that in that class over the last six months they had lost six students who had moved to the U.S.A. Canadian taxpayers are paying for it. Why have they moved to the U.S.A.? Because of the lower taxes. It goes back to their disposable income so they can address the needs of their children.
Then we come along and say “No, no, but we have the health care and you have got to pay for all those things”. Yes, but there is also frivolous spending by this government. There is the millennium project where the government is spending money. I do not know why we are spending money on that project.
The Minister for International Trade today in committee said that he was very proud to take young entrepreneurs to the Silicon Valley. That is great. I applaud him for that initiative, it is good. Our young entrepreneurs need that. I understand he also said “We are a good exporter. We are a good exporter of our bright young individuals”. We are good exporters after we have spent so much money on them.
Our economy has high taxes, brain drain and low productivity and the government has been refusing to acknowledge it but the government is slowly acknowledging it as the opposition parties keep hammering it. It needs to be addressed, but not with a band-aid solution, not with the government saying that it will throw a little money here and a little money there. It needs a comprehensive solution.
I hope that the finance minister when he wins his leadership bid will try to give tax relief as an election goody. The days of election goodies are over. Canadians will challenge that. They now know not to put their trust in the government any more.
Before I sit down I must say that something has to be done about Revenue Canada which is becoming more and more unreasonable in going after Canadian taxpayers.