Mr. Speaker, they have about as much respect for dissent as they do for taxpayers. It is absolutely clear in the budget that the government does not appreciate what Canadians do. On September 11 our holiday from history ended. Canadians understood from that moment, and since that time, that top priority of a national government must be to provide adequate resources for our national defence and to defend the security and safety of Canadians.
The budget provides only $300 million over five years in capital expenditures for the Department of National Defence at a time when the auditor general says that department will require at least $1.2 billion, and when the Conference of Defence Associations says at least $2 billion per year. The Minister of National Defence should be ashamed of himself for not having demanded at the cabinet table that we support our military men and women.
The budget will not even bring the budgets of the RCMP and the CSIS intelligence agency up to the levels of 1994 prior to their having been slashed. The budget does not provide the resources that Canadians demand and expect and which we need at the front line of our national defence and our national security.
In terms of economic security, the budget is an abject failure. The finance minister does not even recognize or admit or acknowledge that he has led Canada into a recession. What is his solution? It is next year to increase the tax on jobs, the combined payroll tax, by 6%. Instead of creating jobs, this budget and fiscal approach will kill jobs. The Liberals did not get their priorities straight.
Just when Canadians realize that now more than ever we must reduce the enormous debt burden, which has caused the lowest level of our currency in its history and which continues to be a drag on our disposable income and wealth as a nation, there is not one single red cent devoted to debt reduction in the budget, not a dollar. In fact the finance minister had to cook the books and move his own goal posts in order to come up with figures to suggest that he would not be in deficit. He has eliminated the prudence factor. He has cut the contingency factor in half. He has not allocated a dollar from either of those accounts to debt reduction. They are on the very fine edge of a deficit within the next two years.
The Liberals found more money for the culture department than for agriculture. Zero for agriculture and hundreds of millions for the CBC. Why is it that they have their priorities so wrong?
While the government is bringing us back to the edge of the precipice, the Liberals are already announcing that they would spend potential surpluses on artificial job creation programs and aid to Africa instead of reducing the debt.
The Liberals say they have invested in security. So how do they explain that not one cent is going into the basic national defence budget? The auditor general said recently that they needed $1.3 billion to maintain the status quo. The Liberals are contributing $1.3 billion, but over five years instead of one.
The budget fails to reflect the priorities of Canadians. It fails to get priorities straight. It is a huge wasteful budget. If this were a movie, it would be known as “2001: A Waste Odyssey” with a 9.2% increase in program spending next year, the largest spending increase since 1979 when this Prime Minister was a disastrous Minister of Finance.
Tomorrow I and my colleagues will be elaborating on the reasons for moving an amendment to the motion on this budget to condemn the government for having failed to get its priorities straight at a time of economic and security urgency; for having failed to put resources where they belong, at the front edge of our fight for national security; and for having failed to restore economic security to the country. We look forward to that debate. At this time I move:
That the debate be now adjourned.
(Motion agreed to)