Madam Speaker, I am splitting my time with the member for Edmonton--Strathcona.
The priorities of the government have been completely misplaced and this is what I have been talking about. Health care has been the number one issue and we do not see any improvement in it. Recent increases did not even come close to restoring health care funding to where it was before the Liberals came to power in 1993.
There is no contradiction between being fiscally prudent and increasing funding to priority areas like the armed forces, the RCMP, CSIS, health care and so on. However it can only be done if wasteful spending is eliminated.
As it stands now, none of these vital institutions had their funding increased to 1993 levels. The solicitor general did not mention that the recent increases do not even begin to make up for the damages to these organization which have been caused by the government since it took charge in 1993.
The Liberals are like arsonists who set fire to a building and then join others to douse the flames with a bucket of water, but they hide the fact that they set the fire in the first place. They caused the problem in the first place. They are the root cause of the problem, particularly in health care. How can we call them the saviours?
Another example of where the government has fallen short is in transportation infrastructure programs. The government rakes in about $4.3 billion from gasoline taxes and invests only less than 4% in transportation and infrastructure programs. In contrast, the United States of America invests 95% of the revenue generated from gasoline taxes on transportation and infrastructure programs.
The condition of our freeways and roads is bad. The Liberals have included $2 billion for the strategic infrastructure program, but the word strategic sounds a little suspicious to me. Based on the track record of the government, it probably means that the money will be used for political purposes to win strategic ridings. There will be no fair allocation of this funding based on the needs in various provinces and constituencies.
I have been to a few countries in the recent past. The leaders of these countries, such as Hong Kong and China, realize that transportation infrastructure is vital to their continued economic well-being. They make spending in this area a top priority. We do not see that in Canada.
The Liberals talk about trade promotion, but in practice they do not make significant enough investments to ensure Canada's place as a truly global player.
One reason behind the misplaced priorities of the budget is probably the political ambitions of certain ministers of the crown. The underground leadership race to succeed the Prime Minister is nothing new. Some people have said that departmental budget allocations are a good way of telling which ministers are favoured by the Prime Minister. Obviously our former industry minister saw the shortfall in funding for his broadband “hinternet” scheme to be a signal that he did not have the support of the Prime Minister for his leadership ambitions, and he quit.
Due to the wrong priorities of this government, many doctors, nurses, teachers and computer engineers are moving south to the United States of America where job opportunities are more and taxes are lower. That is brain drain, but we do not have as much brain gain in this country.
Any government truly committed to immigrants and economic growth would realize that recognizing foreign credentials is vital to our ability to attract world class talent from abroad. In this budget another missed opportunity is in the area of recognizing foreign credentials. Even though I lobbied for and raised the issue, the government mentioned only one line in the last throne speech. However it has done nothing to implement what it said in the throne speech. Why would a computer engineers or a scientists from abroad bring their skills to Canada if their credentials are not recognized once they get here?
I had a motion in the House some time ago but the government did not support it. I wanted a nationalized system to standardize education within the country and use that standard to recognize foreign credentials. In the U.S.A. if people apply for recognition of their credentials it takes less than 24 hours. It takes more than three months in Canada. We are again missing an opportunity to turn the brain drain into a brain gain.
Bill C-11 shows quite well the attitude of the government toward security. The government tabled a bill before September 11 and then tried to say that it met security needs after adding some ridiculous regulations.
Under the new point system of the Liberals, independent immigrants are penalized, meaning it will be harder for them to come to this country and contribute their skills to the country's economic welfare.
Also, the government is allowing Canada's reputation to slip by refusing to invest in our military and foreign missions, which is the first line of defence. This is shameful for a G-8 country.
Statehood means a country must be able to defend itself and make a contribution to the international community. There have been many allegations of corruption in foreign missions. The locally hired employees accept bribes and allow unscrupulous people through the system to come to Canada. Nothing has been done to address that issue.
One way the government could honour our country's historical record in the area of foreign affairs would be to shift its foreign policy focus toward preventive diplomacy. At one time Canada used to enjoy the reputation of a leading country in preventive diplomacy. Now we have slipped way beyond many countries like Bangladesh and even smaller countries like Nepal. The priorities of the government are wrong. It has given Canada a black eye.
Again, this would involve shifting resources from low priority areas, such as corporate welfare for Liberal supporters, to high priority areas such as deeper tax cuts, security, larger payments to the provinces for health care and paying down our debt which is the root cause for the low loonie. This would require the government to re-examine its strategy, something it has been unwilling to do.
The Liberals claim their budget is about security, but security only works when there are no gaps in the fence. One gapping hole I have brought to the attention of the government many times is the problem of corruption of our foreign missions, as I mentioned earlier. The government has done nothing to patch the big hole of corruption in foreign missions. More often they involve locally engaged staff and nothing has been done to deal with that issue.
According to the government, current economic uncertainties are causing problems for governments around the world. However other governments are making investments to mediate and prevent any conflicts so that there is not too much expense to deal with the damages caused later on.
My province of British Columbia has been completely ignored by the government. There are many issues which have been ignored in British Columbia which I will talk about at some other time.
In conclusion, the priorities of the government are wrong. It has not significantly reduced taxes. It has not paid anything significant on the debt. Those priorities should have been first so we could have made a better country for all of us.