Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to discuss the ongoing assault by the Liberal government on the Canadian taxpayer, this time propagated through Bill C-71.
The last time I rose in the House to discuss the budget I chronicled the failure of the government to adequately protect the environment. I told the House that despite the fact taxpayers were paying more, they were getting less in environmental protection. I told the House how the budget for Environment Canada had been so deeply slashed that the department could not even enforce many of its current regulations, never mind any future considerations. The House also heard of the failure of the government to take serious action to clean up the contaminated sites which spread like cancer across this beautiful country.
Today I will speak to the budget in a broader sense, outlining the harm the government's reckless tax and spend policies are having on our country.
When the Liberals came to power in 1993 the Canadian taxpayer was reeling from 30 years of excessive taxation. Like a punch drunk fighter, the taxpayer was dazed and confused after repeated blows to his after tax take home pay and the level of government service.
For year's the government sucker punched the taxpayer, nearly knocking him out with nickel and dime jabs, a 7% shot below the belt, an upper cut to health care services, and a resounding haymaker to the tax equality of single income families.
Each time the taxpayer was nearly knocked out, the government showered cold cash on his nearly lifeless body offering up a coal mine here or some cheap western gas and oil over there. No subsidy was too large, no project too small. They were all showered with cold cash, cash that came from the blood and sweat of that same taxpayer. Take it out of one pocket and give it back to another. So it went for 30 years.
However, when the Liberals came to power in 1993 they had a chance to change all that. They had a chance to clean up government. They had what we call a golden opportunity. They could have seized the moment and cut out government waste. They could have followed through on their promise to scrap the GST. They could have taken charge of out of control government departments.
Best of all, they could have revived the taxpayer. They could have given him the best health care that money could buy. They could have helped his family by streamlining the tax system. They could have promised him a future by fixing his pension plan. They could have given him a safe secure job through increasing national productivity.
Unfortunately the Liberal government blew that chance. Instead of reviving the taxpayer with the sweet smells of tax cuts, the government body slammed the taxpayer by dropping the Canadian health and social transfers by 31%.
These cuts in federal government transfers caused great distress across the country as the provinces had to scramble to make up for the lack of federal money. Hospitals were closed. Medical staff were let go. Emergency rooms were filled to overflowing.
Canadians heard stories of patients sleeping in the hallways because there were not enough beds. Patients were made to wait weeks, sometimes even months for surgical procedures. Wealthy patients often elected out of the Canadian system and fled to the U.S. where they could buy the care they needed. A two tier health system exists in the country today. Year after year the assault continued with the cumulative reductions soon totalling over $20 billion with no end in sight.
The government made a big deal out of the budget this year, boasting that it would increase government transfers to health by $11.5 billion. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance bragged that the budget was a well thought vision for tomorrow.
Let us have a look at what tomorrow will bring. First, we will notice the increase in CPP premiums coming off our paycheques. Under the government's proposals for the Canadian pension plan Canadians will see their CPP premiums skyrocket over the next four years.
Next Canadians can look forward to reduced after tax income, thanks to the government's refusal to fully index income tax brackets. This insidious tax is costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars as brackets fail to keep up with the pace of inflation. This is a way the government can increase revenues without seeming to increase taxes, but indeed it is. This discriminant policy places a disproportionate burden of the increase on the shoulders of those who can least afford it, the poor.
Canadians can look forward to a reduced standard of living vis-à-vis their American neighbours. High taxes and onerous regulations have stifled the Canadian economy and have driven many of our best and brightest educated at taxpayer expense out of the country.