Mr. Speaker, I commend the member for Yukon for following the debates in this place so closely. He is one of the few members who is always here to listen to his colleagues. I only wish the ministers would take such an active interest in the debate on the budget. It is a convention in the British parliament that when the budget debate is being heard, the chancellor of the exchequer actually listens to the entire debate. I do not think that has ever happened in this place, at least in the last several years.
With respect to the points raised by the member for Yukon such as the heating rebate, it was not the Alliance but rather the auditor general who said that most of the cheques went to people who did not need them. Thousands went to people who were deceased or in prison. Tens of thousands of cheques went to people who exceeded the set income levels and to a lot of renters whose landlords pay their heating bills. I would like the member to address that.
In terms of regional development, members of the Alliance by and large represent a region of the country, the west. Perhaps in Yukon they feel differently but I can say that the people in western Canada do not believe that the best road to economic development and prosperity is government handouts and picking winners and losers in the private sector, but rather allowing the free market to do its job by getting government out of the way through lower taxes. We believe that should apply across the country. It is not discriminatory with respect to any region.
Finally, the member addressed the question of our proposed spending cuts. Yes, we do propose to reallocate roughly $6 billion or $7 billion from low and falling priority areas such as waste, corporate welfare, handouts to corporations, regional development schemes, money wasted in the Department of Canadian Heritage, et cetera. This money could then be reallocated to higher priorities like health care.
Does the member not agree that there are priorities such as health care and national defence which trump low and falling priorities such as corporate welfare and grants and subsidies to television and film producers?