Madam Speaker, I am glad to see the member for Wild Rose in the House. It is good to see him back after a bit of an absence. I saw him starring in a television program a few weeks ago. I had not seen him for a while.
I want to say a few words in the debate today. The Reform Party motion says that the House calls on the Minister of Finance to increase the Canada health and social transfer by $1.5 billion and to forgo the $1.5 billion increase to federal grants, services and contributions in this year's budget. On the surface that may sound like a perfectly reasonable motion but I have a couple of problems with it.
In looking at the grants and contributions that the Reform Party wants to terminate, what it is advocating is robbing Peter to pay Paul. I came across some very interesting programs that are supported by the vast majority of Canadians.
For example, it wants to terminate the increase of $560,000 to the first nations policing program. There are 12 first nations in my riding. They are very interested in increased funding for policing on those Indian reserves. I see the member for Wild Rose hanging his head in shame. I know he agrees with me too because he has first nations in his riding. Perhaps that is why he is not speaking in this debate. The Reform Party wants to eliminate this important program in terms of the funding increase in the budget.
Also, the Reform Party wants to eliminate the increase of $355,000 in the contribution to the Canadian blood service program. Why would it want to terminate that? Why does it want to decrease its budget by $355,000?
Another item the Reform Party wants to get rid of is the $12.3 million contribution in support of the youth justice renewal fund. This is youth justice renewal for young offenders across the country and it wants to decrease that by $12.3 million which the Minister of Finance had in his budget.
There is another one. The Reform Party wants to eliminate as well the $1.2 million contribution in support of the safer communities initiative.
Why does the Reform Party want to decrease a lot of very good government programs that are serving the people of this country in order to put more money into health care? There is a huge surplus. This country can afford not just the $1.5 billion it is talking about but it can afford more than that in terms increasing health care funds.
As a matter of fact, since the Liberal Party took power in 1993, there has been a cutback of over $21 billion in total funding from transfers to the provinces for health care and education. Spending this year will be $3.3 billion lower than it was in 1993 when the Liberal Party was elected.
On the health side, the Reform Party is saying to go halfway back to where the Liberals were in 1993 despite the fact that government revenues have skyrocketed. We have a surplus in the next five years of $100 billion plus and the Reform Party wants to put back in only half the money which the Liberals took away in 1993. It does not even factor in the inflationary costs in the health care system.
This motion falls far short of what parliament should be endorsing in terms of health care and what parliament should endorse for public spending and expenditures for other government programs across the board.
I look across the way at the Liberals and I wonder how the party of Paul Martin, Sr., Lester Pearson and other social reformers could support the present Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister. They have cut back on social services and social programs in a way that is so much more radical than what Brian Mulroney and the Tories ever did.