Mr. Speaker, I want to summarize. Bill C-25 before the House today is an income tax bill. When we talk about collecting income tax in this country, we should also talk about the public policy priorities that go along with the role of collecting taxes. Once we collect taxes, on what do we spend the money?
I summarize by saying that the number one priority in this country is health care. It is preserving the medical care system.
Mr. Speaker, you may have noticed the daffodils on various members' desks. There is one on my desk, one on the desk of a member of the united alternative and one across the way on the desk of a Liberal member. Those daffodils symbolize a campaign by young people called Young People for Medicare. This morning they had a press conference in Room 130-S of this building, the Charles Lynch theatre. I was honoured to be at that press conference with them. They argued as young people that they are concerned about preserving our system of medicare in the country.
That is very significant. Young people as a rule do not use the health care system very much. It is encouraging to see a group of young people come here, organize a campaign and use the Internet to speak out in favour of preserving our national medicare plan.
When we debate a tax bill in the House and when we collect taxes from the Canadian people, we should make sure that the number one priority of those taxes will be social programs and, in particular, health care which is so important to each and every single Canadian from coast to coast.
Another point I wish to mention is that the farm crisis in Saskatchewan and Manitoba is still there despite a bit more aid from the federal government, a bit more help from the Saskatchewan government and a bit more help from Manitoba. The crisis is still there. We are in the midst of the worst farm crisis since the 1930s.
Almost every single small town in Saskatchewan and Manitoba is losing people because of the drop in farm income. Suicides are up, reaching a record high. Farm stress, with all its attendant problems, is now very serious. We should be addressing more of the money collected in taxes to alleviate the problem for farm families in rural communities across the country.
The last point I mention is the system of education. I think that is one system where we should spend more money. In terms of investing in research and development, training skills, education and post-secondary education, the country should train a workforce that is second to none. When we do that, we will build a strong country we can all be proud of as we move on into the 21st century.