Mr. Speaker, after listening to the debate today and question periods over the last couple of months, and the requests made by the official opposition, particularly by the leader of the official opposition, one cannot help but conclude that there is a profound sense of contradiction in the position taken by the official opposition in its demands over time for greater expenditure on the part of the government, particularly with respect to national defence, security, intelligence, transport, you name it.
There seems to have been an amazing discovery by the official opposition that there is a role for government to play, after having criticized, until very recently, the presence of government in all walks of life. We have seen almost a conversion on the road to Damascus on the part of the official opposition. It finally has discovered that actually there is a role for government to play, and not only that but that government should be spending more money.
We have heard this trend since parliament resumed sitting in the fall. This trend is so strong it almost leads us to believe there may even be an element bordering on hypocrisy. One cannot ask the government to do more and demand greater expenditure, as the official opposition has done, and then criticize the government for spending too much, as we have heard in the last 24 hours. In the last 24 hours we heard only complaints that the government is overspending.
Half an hour ago in the Chamber we heard the leader of the official opposition reveal his vision about Canada's economic future which is limited virtually to a vision of reducing the debt. That seems to be the major overriding preoccupation of the official opposition as represented by its leader.
One has to ask whether the opposition can have it both ways, whether it can continue to blame government spending and at the same time request the government to do more in specific fields as chosen by the official opposition. Obviously this kind of contradiction does not help the consistency of the position taken by the official opposition since being elected to that role. It is no wonder the official opposition will remain where it is at the rate it proceeds to elaborate on the role of government. It expects the government to spend when there is a crisis, but at budget time it criticizes the government for doing its duty, namely protecting the public and the public interest.
The main theme of the leader of the official opposition this afternoon has been a repeated desire, almost an obsession, with the elimination of the debt. I am very glad the government has not dealt with the reduction of the debt in the budget. Anyone with a minimum understanding of what the gross domestic product is all about would know that the gross domestic product, namely the economy of the country, keeps growing from year to year, sometimes at 3%, sometimes at 1%, sometimes in between, but the economic pie keeps growing.
Instead the debt remains at a certain amount. In proportion to the gross domestic product or in relation to the economic pie of the country, it is becoming less and less. This means that as the years go by and as the economy grows the weight of the debt over the entire economic pie will become smaller and smaller. For that reason, therefore, I am glad that in the budget no resources were devoted to the debt.
In addition I am also glad that there was no further reduction of taxes. As a government we saw a decision made in the last budget to reduce taxes to the tune of $100 billion over the next five years. This is a considerable commitment and a considerable amount of revenue lost for very good reason: to stimulate the economy. It is there and will certainly serve the purpose, but it is $100 billion which the government does not have to perform its tasks, duties and role.
The budget is very strong on national security, and so it should be. However one has to note at the same time that it is not strong on social, environmental or climate security. I would like to think there are measures in the budget which could help the workers at Algoma steel, for instance, and those who are becoming unemployed because of globalization and other competitive economic measures that are mercilessly affecting a large number of Canadian workers. It is therefore a gap which I would consider to be a temporary one.
Conditions made it necessary for the Minister of Finance to produce a short term budget in anticipation of the fact that once it is clear the strength of the economy will pick up, particularly south of the border, it will then be possible to produce a long term budget containing the dimensions that are missing in the budget today.
In particular I mention the fact that the predominant issue in the international scene when it comes to climate change, namely the ratification of the Kyoto agreement, requires a number of changes to our taxation system and, in particular, an appreciation of the fact that we need to encourage the development of alternatives to fossil fuels.
I am referring to various products such as ethanol, hydrogen and other means of producing energy that require a shift in Canada's taxation system so as to prepare the country for the reduction of dependence on fossil fuels and the adoption of new forms of energy which will make it possible in the long term to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to achieve the targets we intend to arrive at by the year 2010.
That task is not a minor one and does require, from the perspective of the Kyoto agreement and the climate change challenge, taxation measures to be taken very early to obtain the desired results.
Each of the number of issues that the leader of the official opposition has raised deserves a lengthy rebuttal. For instance, he proclaimed the desire for capital gains tax to be further reduced.
Mr. Speaker, I can see that you are indicating that my time is up. I will have to leave it to another colleague of mine to continue with the rebuttal of the official opposition's speech.