Madam Speaker, the public sees the so-called mini-budget not as an honest attempt to solve the economic problems of our country, but rather as a cynical attempt to buy the voters in the coming election.
Three things have happened over the last little while which I am going to ask my colleague about, bombs the government has let explode in its own lap. One is the access to information debacle in that the government is vigorously trying to hide information to which members of the public have every right of access. The second is the mini-budget. The third is the auditor general's report, which not only is a scathing attack on the government's failure to spend the public's money wisely, but also is an indication of its flagrant abuse of the public purse not only in HRDC, but also in aboriginal affairs and many other areas. Last is the government's frequent spending of the taxpayers' money all over the country in a vain and failing attempt to try to curry favour with the voters.
Spending is taking place to put back the money the government has taken out in health care, which was over $22 billion. Incidentally, the money it will put in will only get us back to 1995 levels for health care and education in spite of the fact that when this comes into play we will be 10 years behind the eight ball.
How can my hon. colleague justify the government's spending an additional $29 billion of the taxpayers' money beyond the money that has already been allocated for health care? How can he justify to his constituents that putting in $22 billion as of the year 2006 which will get us back to 1995 levels is going to fix our health care woes?