Mr. Speaker, I would like to advise you that I am splitting my time with the member for Souris—Moose Mountain.
The bill seeks to amend the Income Tax Act to put in place the mini budget or economic statement from the fall.
The interesting thing is that the Liberal government has yet to produce a budget that will outline its priorities, both for taking in government revenues and spending them. It is inexcusable that we should be meandering through the wilderness of the economic difficulties of these days, where leading corporations like Nortel are laying off major portions of its total workforce. That involved something like 6,000 Canadian jobs. As well, we are watching the U.S. economy slow down. For the first time in many years, the U.S. unemployment rate is actually rising. All of this is going on while the finance minister's policy is based on last year's election spending spree.
In addition, the Canadian dollar is continuing to slide. I remember talking about this issue a few months ago. At that time we watched the dollar slide up and down above and below 67 cents U.S. Today it is down to anywhere from 63 cents to 65 cents U.S., which means that our dollar has lost about 16% of its value in the last eight years.
Our weak dollar is like a national pay cut for everybody. It means that the value of our money and the value of everything we own in Canadian dollars has been reduced. Canadians' savings have been reduced. Customers are forced to pay more for imported goods in a global economy where almost everything we buy is made, at least partly, somewhere outside Canada, while the Liberal government merely continues its trend of spending and of ignoring the need for real tax cuts.
During the 20th century in the United States there were three episodes of significant tax rate reductions. These reductions occurred in the 1920s under U.S. presidents Harding and Coolidge. They happened again in the 1960s under President Kennedy and in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan. In each case the Canadian Liberal government of the day predicted that tax cuts would only reduce revenues and benefit the affluent.
People are always worried about the affluent benefiting. This morning we heard a number of speeches in private members' business and now under this bill that show the government is worrying that the rich will get richer. However, if the people who have the money do not invest, we know what will happen to everyone else. No jobs will be available for them.
In each case the Liberal government of the day decided that it would increase taxes and spend its way out of the problem. Each time the United States avoided an economic crisis but Canada ran head on into it. We see this happening again today.
President Bush is calling for massive tax cuts. He recognizes that the global economy is slowing. He recognizes that his country is heading for a recession. He also recognizes that swift and significant tax cuts are necessary to stimulate the economy of his country. President Bush is showing leadership by working to avoid a crisis. The Bush administration has proposed tax cutting measures that would reduce taxes by as much as $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years. Both Republicans and Democrats have introduced tax measures in congress that would see tax relief of up to $160 billion retroactive to January of this year.
What is our government doing? What is the Liberal solution to stop the economic bleeding and to avoid a crisis? Its approach is quite unique. Last week it announced a $500 million spending spree for arts groups. The arts are important in Canada, but jobs for Canadians are perhaps more important at this time when our economy is in crisis. Where would the money come from?
The government has announced tax increases through the CPP. It has erased any modest gains that might have been made through personal tax cuts. It refuses to lower taxes, issue a budget, follow the American example and bring in an across the board tax reduction.
As we talk about capital gains taxes we go into the nuts and bolts and the minutia of them when all the while the government is trying to avoid the necessity of reducing taxes for Canadians so that they would have more money in their pockets to make the economy work.
A recent report by the Institute for Research on Public Policy shows the human costs of the government's refusal to lower taxes. It studied the migration habits of Canadians leaving for the United States. The results should come as no surprise. Canadians are flocking to the United States because the taxes are lower there. Their buying power increases and they have more money in their wallets. Every year thousands of Canadians go to the United States for better pay, better tax rates and better opportunities to secure their future.
I was watching a TV show the other day in which Canadian hospitals were trying to bring Canadian nurses back from the United States. Goodness knows we need them. However the response from the nurses who were going to the job fairs was that the pay and working conditions here were not as good, taxes were too high, and their spouses who were in the United States with them could not find jobs if they came back to Canada.
The alarming number of Canadians heading to the United States is increasing. Despite the Prime Minister sticking his head in the sand and pretending that there is no brain drain, the numbers tell the story. In 1968 the number of people leaving Canada for the U.S. was 17,000. In 1997 that number rose to 98,000. In 1986 only 3% of Canada's natural scientists left for the United States. In 1997 that number rose to 11%.
We have a brain drain crisis. Our best and brightest are going south. Doctors, nurses, scientists and computer programmers are among the many heading for lower taxes and better wages. We have to deal with this problem. High Canadian taxes is the most urgent task facing parliament. Thus far our economy has had a free ride on the United States, but we are now seeing the results of government policy or lack thereof.
I see the government having a far more serious problem by not producing a budget that Canadians can see and work with. We need a budget that we can hew to, not a general economic statement prepared for a national election and justified through legislation.