Mr. Speaker, the debate today has been fairly wide ranging. We are discussing the Budget Implementation Act for the 1999 budget and in particular the Bloc motion that refers to the speed at which the government dispenses money.
For the first time in a long time I have heard the Bloc arguing that the government is dispensing money too quickly. That is usually something Reformers are arguing in spades. In fact, part of the reason I rose today was to talk about how the Budget Implementation Act authorizes the finance minister to spend far too much money once again and far too quickly for most people.
A couple of weeks ago we received a rather lengthy document sent out from Heritage Canada telling us about all the spending that has been done at the millennium bureau of Canada. I remember the Prime Minister making the promise in the House a year or so ago that we would not be having a big send up party and nothing left at the end of it.
In looking through the spending at the millennium bureau of Canada I have come to the conclusion that it is an almost unbelievable binge of questionable spending. To me, it looks like a bunch of giveaways that have absolutely nothing to do with leaving us something after the party. I can give some good examples. The folder which came from Heritage Canada had each province in a separate booklet. I made a quick scan through it. It was unbelievable some of the spending that was going on.
The millennium bureau seems quite happy to have been dispensing $145 million on all sorts of crazy projects. The bureau is quite proud of the spending. It is almost guaranteed that the average taxpayer would be appalled at what is going on with the dispensing of money to special interest groups, especially as many of the projects have only the vaguest connection to the start of the new millennium, especially when we consider that the true start of the 21st century is not until December 31 in the year 2000. It is not at the end of this year, it is at the end of next year. Everyone has been caught up in this millennium fever in the wrong year.
I will give some examples of the sort of spending at the millennium bureau which in my opinion and my constituents' opinion is the dispensing of money far too quickly and is a complete waste. It should not have even been in this budget at all.
There are impressive undertakings such as $15,000 to detail the experiences of garment workers in Canada. Tell me how that relates to the millennium. There is $300,000 for concerts featuring a separatist singer; $15,183 for the Apple and Cider Interpretation Centre in Quebec; and $5,333 to build two giant mastodons in Carroll's Corner, Nova Scotia. Any of these projects may be justifiable as standalone projects, but they do not have anything to do with the millennium. They are an excuse to spend money.
I will give a few more examples from B.C. and Ontario in particular. McDonald's Corners/Elphin Recreation and Arts will receive $2,003 to help organize the building of a labyrinth on the grounds of the 1868 McDonald's Corners schoolhouse. They claim that the project will be constructed of willow bushes which grow about two metres annually allowing them to be harvested for use by local artisans, and that this living labyrinth with its roots in earlier millennia will provide lasting effects into the new age. Frankly I am absolutely convinced that the artisans will forget to harvest the willow, so we are going to be on the hook for more grants next year to trim the bushes. Of that I am pretty sure.
There is a really big one in the Vancouver area. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra thinks it would like to break three Guinness world records with a grant of $129,667, almost $130,000. They are going to amass the world's largest collection of musicians to perform O Canada, Beethoven's 9th Symphony and a new work which will reflect the music of the future.
According to the project description “The orchestra along with more than 21,000 students and possibly as many as 40,000 from throughout British Columbia will enjoy a once in a millennium experience”. We can be sure of that because the millennium only comes once in a millennium. Listen to this, Mr. Speaker. This is a project description to justify $130,000. “It will increase their appreciation for music and their self-esteem and over the long term discourage crime, drug abuse and participation in gang violence, a worthy legacy for a new millennium”. That is a quote directly from the project.
Another example, “The Canadian Canoe Museum will steer unerringly into the new millennium”, says the millennium bureau, “with $1,057,933 to develop a new 15,000 square foot exhibit in the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough”. The project summary states, “The travelling and educational exhibits will focus on the canoe as a unifying national symbol that brings Canadians together as we enter the new millennium”.
If members are not yet convinced that these projects are a complete and utter waste of money, let me give another one. The Friends of the Ruins of St. Raphael's will spend its grant of $146,000 on ensuring that the fire gutted ruins of St. Raphael's Church survive as an interpretive site well into the new millennium. This church burned down 30 years ago. I do not know why nobody has rebuilt it but obviously not too many people are interested. For some reason a special interest group has managed to extract $146,000 from taxpayers to ensure that it remains as an interpretive site well into the new millennium.
The Waterfront Trail Artists of Etobicoke are guaranteed not to have any problems with bird droppings in its project. The Flight of Passenger Pigeons, thanks to a $13,614 grant from the millennium bureau, involves only birds made of papier mâché. The project organizers hope to convince, and they still have to do this, 2,000 students from 13 area schools to make life size replicas of the extinct passenger pigeon for display in their schools and public places.
In addition, “those too young to sculpt will draw their passenger pigeons”—sketch them instead—“and have their messages attached to the sculptures, bringing the total number of messages to 4,000”. The project says “the replicas will remind people of the fragility of our environment and the importance of nurturing it in the next millennium”. I suspect that the papier mâché pigeons, once they get a little wet, will gradually disintegrate and the paper will blow all over Etobicoke, Ontario and make a huge mess, probably more than the real passenger pigeons would have made if they were alive today.
This is another big one also in B.C. Unfortunately, some of the big ones have gone to B.C. The Leadership Initiative for Earth will use $599,514 to help finance the building and sailing of a sustainable Lifeship 2000 tall ship. “The life story of every tree used in its construction will be documented”. This is very worthy. I do not how they are going to get the life story of every tree. I know if we cut them in half we can count the rings and that tells us how old they are, but I have never read anything else in there that tells me what they were doing along the way. I am not sure if we are going to get $599,000 worth of action out of that project.
In an absolutely rare display of common sense, the millennium bureau turned down a project that emanated from North Vancouver. It was called the Multicultural Mask experience. It was submitted by Earth Muffin Productions of North Vancouver. I think most of us know what earth muffins are. It was submitted by Earth Muffin Productions but it was turned down mainly because the proposal, and I quote from the turn down letter, “did not demonstrate a sufficient level of support from the community or other financial partners”. I wonder why. I did read about the project and it was appalling.
That is the millennium bureau. It is a big excuse to spend money and is a real example of the waste that is in this budget.
In the last couple of weeks when we have talked about the west, members on the government side still seem to think that throwing money at things is the way to make friends. They keep talking about the western diversification fund and how wonderful it is to throw away hundreds of millions of dollars, as if westerners want money spent on them. They do not. They would get rid of the western diversification fund in return for tax decreases. That is what should have been in this year's budget.