Mr. Speaker, I have yet to run into a Canadian from coast to coast who has said “Please, quickly send out the minister of heritage to protect me, so I can save my Canadian identity”.
Canadians know who they are. Canadians stand proud. We do not stand in fear of moving ahead in prosperity and progress or of losing our identity. We will always know what it is to be Canadian. Canadians do not have this fear. The only fear we see is the Liberal fear of losing power, if our citizens actually gain more power for their own future direction and prosperity.
The United States and Canada need not fear such an open border. We will both have confidence that the continent is protected, if we move ahead with the protections that we have suggested, with a security perimeter that keeps criminals and terrorists out of both countries and allows freedom of trade back and forth across an open border.
We need to consider moving closer together on monetary policy. Why is there no discussion on this? Why is neither the Prime Minister nor the Minister of Finance bringing forward the elements of this so we can look into this and discuss it? Because the government waits for the winds to blow. It holds its fingers in the air. When it hears the winds blowing strong enough and feels them strong enough, it reluctantly sails in that direction, sometimes in the direction of a freer economy and a freer nation.
We seriously need to start discussing dollarization or a common currency. Why in this day and age are we not discussing these things? Why do we continue to fall back on pet political projects for political friends rather than the true issues of propelling ourselves forward in prosperity and in hope.
If we want to send a signal that we are thinking boldly about the future, that we still have the courage to dream great dreams, these are the kinds of issues we must discuss. We must be discussing these now. International events are forcing the discussion. Why do we not lead them instead of being dragged into them?
These events will be thrust upon us as terms not advantageous to us in five or ten years if we do not move on these areas now, get the discussion going, talk to Canadians and look at our opportunities.
Sadly, with this budget, with their runaway spending, their failure to address the real defence and security needs of Canadians, their return to tax increases, their abandonment of debt paydown and of any attempt to restore economic fundamentals, let alone to consider anything dramatic or new like transforming our continental relationship, the Liberals seem to have chosen the path of drift.
Today, tomorrow and the next day the Canadian Alliance will be asking Canadians to help us chart a different course. We will be asking them to help us have a discussion on these economic and security issues to force the government to come to terms with economic reality, to change its direction, and to take our economic destiny into our own hands.
Let us eliminate the waste in government by starting with the cuts to the $16.3 billion of poorly managed programs that the auditor general has identified. Let us give our brave Canadian forces the tools they need to do their job. Let us continue with tax reductions especially, in this time of recession, to those job killing payroll taxes. Let us continue to pay down the debt and restore confidence on the fundamentals of our economy. Let us allow the provinces to be innovative in areas like health care, where they can allow market forces to help them deliver the services that their citizens need without being slapped and without being hobbled by a federal government that truly does not care about co-operation. Let us have the courage to consider another leap of faith to a stronger, closer economic union with our great friends and allies in the United States.
The government wasted a tremendous opportunity to chart a new course for freedom and prosperity with this budget. Canadians deserve better. With their help we can make this country better.
We can make this a country where the government provides not a roadblock, but a sign post for prosperity, a sign post for hope.
I ask all Canadians to join with us and make Canada a most favoured nation, a nation of unlimited horizons and boundless frontiers. Let this be a nation where the young still have vision and the old still dream dreams. God keep our land and may this country remain the truth north, strong and free.