Mr. Speaker, today we are talking about Bill C-71, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget that was tabled by the finance minister in February.
I would like to talk about some of the things that the finance minister has done in his reign of terror, as some would say, his reign of taxation. The minister of high taxes, who sits across the way, has slashed and burned health care spending to the tune of $20 billion from 1993 to the year 2000. Since he took office that is what the minister has done and that is unconscionable. This is also the finance minister who says that he is reinvesting $11.5 billion over five years and wants Canadians to be happy about that.
Let us look at the big picture of what he is asking Canadians to do. He is asking Canadians to accept the fact that he has taken away $20 billion in spending on health care and social services, the CHST, and is putting back $11.5 billion. I do not know very many Canadians who would be happy to hear that they will lose $1 from their pocket but that they may get 50 cents of that back or a little bit more. That does not make sense, but that is exactly what the finance minister has done. He has slashed and burned health care in the country.
The Liberal finance minister, who stands in this place and tells us he is the defender of health care and the creator of everything good in the country, cannot run from his record. He can run, but Canadians are not going to let him hide from his record, nor should they. Members of the official opposition will continue to point out the facts of what the finance minister has done in his slash and burn approach to health care spending.
The minister of the high taxation that we have in the country, and who has been the finance minister for six years, has also implemented or allowed a policy to continue for years concerning the whole issue of family tax fairness. We brought this up not long ago in the House of Commons and had wide agreement on it from the members of the opposition and from members of the government as well.
This is a finance minister who says he cares about the tax rates in the country and the burden of taxation on families, yet he does absolutely nothing for those families who make the decision to have one of the individuals in the home stay home to look after and give care to their children. There is an inequality that has been entrenched in policy by this minister of high taxation and he has not addressed that for six years.
If we look at a person's words and actions, words can be empty after awhile if they are not followed up by action. We must first listen to what somebody says and then look at what they do. If what they do, does not match up with what they say, then we should be questioning what it is they are saying to see whether what they say and what they do are actually the same thing. In this case, they are not.
The minister of high taxation has told us that he cares about families and about lowering tax rates for average Canadians. However, that is not what I am hearing from constituents. That is not what I heard from the individuals I talked to in Hamilton last night or in Stoney Creek, Ontario a few weeks ago.
I have talked to individuals in Dewdney—Alouette and to many young families this past weekend at an event in Maple Ridge. They asked me how a government could be in place that says it cares about families yet has a discriminatory tax policy in place that favours one situation of care giving over another. They said to me, “It looks like the government does not see the value in the commitment we are making to have one of the individuals on our family stay home and look after our children.” That is a shame, because there are many families who are making that sacrifice and commitment to their families for the good of the country.
The Liberal government and members of the government say such things, as the hon. member from Vancouver—Kingsway did, that mothers or families who would make the decision to stay home are taking the easy way out. That is the response we hear from the government.
The member for St. Paul's referred to the individuals who came before the all party finance committee to plead their case as elite white women.
These are members of the Liberal government saying these kinds of things. They can run and they are trying to run, but they cannot hide from their record and what they have done. Canadians are waking up to the fact that the policies that are being put in place—