Madam Speaker, I am pleased to take part in the debate on Bill C-71 at report stage. I speak in opposition to the Bloc Motion No. 1.
In terms of health care it is ironic that the Liberal government on taking power in 1993 at that time basically trashed the health system and now claims it is saving it from what it did back in 1993. I remember very well. The Liberals took away $22 billion from health care which had a huge impact back in 1993-94. The provinces had to deal with this crisis. They shut down hospitals and closed beds.
In the spring of 1997 I had a personal experience with a health care system that was in tatters. I got sick in the spring of 1997 and ended up in the hallway of a hospital waiting for care. Believe it or not, at that time I was the mayor of the community in which I lived. It shows that even the mayor back in those days had to experience the hardships of the health cuts.
Unfortunately we still have the same problems. Even though the government has reinjected many millions back into the system, it is going to take at least two years. I am sure the Liberal government expects that by the time the next election comes around the system will have solved many of its own problems.
The government does not understand that the taxes it collects really do not belong to the Liberal government. They really belong to the people. That is where the government gets them from. In today's question period it was ironic that the health minister stood in the House and said that he gave $900 million to Mike Harris, the premier of this province. It certainly sounded like it was the Liberal government's money. We all know that this $900 million really belongs to the people of Ontario.
One thing I have found in the House is that governments at the federal level do not understand the meaning of planning regarding our debt. This country's debt is an extreme hardship on all of us as taxpayers. Last year I believe we spent about $42 billion of hard-earned taxpayer dollars on debt interest. We all know that personally we certainly could never operate or succeed if our debt was at that level. The government needs to plan in terms of how to retire that debt.
It is quite obvious from the estimates this year and as we talk about this bill that the government is back to free spending. We know that the annual budget has been balanced from a deficit of $42 billion. The government keeps pointing a finger at the Progressive Conservative Party. The PCs should be accountable for half the national debt, but so should the Liberal government which, starting in the 1970s, created the first half of the almost $600 billion worth of national debt.
There is no shortage of money. The money keeps flowing in. People should check their monthly statements and their cheques and they will know how much the government gets. It still gets a big pile from the GST, the CPP, and EI. In fact, the government is so tax hungry it wants to rob us of the $30 billion in the pension fund.
There are examples of the free spending attitude the government still has. The estimates this year contain about $1.7 billion worth of open spending. In other words, the floodgates are open again and the government is back to spending. We need to seriously look at how we spend. Just for the interest of the House, these are some ways we are spending taxpayers' money, probably not in the most responsible manner.
We will write off outstanding immigration loans to the tune of about $3.7 million. Additional operating costs for the Immigration and Refugee Board come to about $2.6 million. Environmental remediation of leased crown site is about $13.4 million. Canada's tenure on the United Nations Security Council will cost the country $1.4 million. Additional operating and capital costs for DFAIT are $15.8 million. Our contribution to international environmental organizations is $255,000, and that is a small number compared to the other ones. The Canada Commercial Corporation amount is $5.08 million.
We are going to forgive the debt of the following countries: Honduras, $18.1 million; Costa Rica, $2.2 million; Colombia, $2.75 million; and Dominican Republic, $1.4 million. The creation of the Canada industrial relations board will cost $350,000. The debt write-offs for Indian Affairs and Northern Development is $389,000. Canadian Intellectual Property Office of Industry Canada will be $15.4 million. ACOA's increased contribution will cost taxpayers $8 million. Liabilities under the Small Business Loans Act is $23 million.
The grant to Conseil québécois des entreprises adaptées to create a development fund is an additional $5 million. Additional capital costs to the NRC come to $16 million. Grants and scholarships will be $270,000. The firearms control program for the registration of long firearms at the justice department will be an additional $13.7 million. The Canadian Human Rights Commission is $692,000. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal as well in the Department of Justice will be an additional $624,000. We will end up spending another $1.75 billion of taxpayers' money.
During the past week I was asked by the teachers federation whether I support the child care program. My response was that perhaps the best way to support child care and make sure that children have a good start in life is to give families a break, in other words give families a tax break.
We all know that for many of us in the House who have both spouses working that the wages of one spouse are used to pay the tax of the other one. We know that the children of the country should come first. Their care really should be paramount in the minds of the members of the House as well.
Last week I received the response from the government on the sports report. In the response even the heritage minister indicated in her letter to the chairman of the standing committee that low and middle income Canadians need a tax break before professional hockey players.
We all know that taxes kill job creation and that taxes also create dependency. It is time the government recognized that taxpayers of Canada are tired of paying taxes. I am sure most members of the House have the same feeling about their taxes.