Mr. Speaker, what I have to say is that they ought to be ashamed to have the contribution rate at $2.10 and have $30 billion they do not need at their disposal. That is what I have to say.
They ought to be ashamed to be taking the money from the disadvantaged to pay down the debt or pay for programs that ought to financed of some other source. They ought to be ashamed that they are not going after the big businesses that are getting away with not paying the GST. They do not even have a system recover that money. They will, however, go after some poor little lady in Tracadie or Petit-Rocher, who does not have two cents to rub together and who owes $15,000. She has to pay $100 in interest every month out of a payment of $120.
This is what they ought to be ashamed of. That is what I have to say to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry. If he wants to solve our problems and put our money to good use, let him do so by creating jobs. That is how it will be done.
I would like to remind the Liberal government that, when the Conservatives took money and put it in the consolidated revenue fund back in 1986, the Liberals were against this. They said that, if they were elected, they would put an end to this theft and would change things. The present Prime Minister said this to the women of Rivière-du-Loup, and to the country as a whole.
Again in 2000, he said to have lost votes in the Atlantic provinces because he had cut EI. When a few seats were won in Halifax and in Cape Breton, his reaction was basically, “Take that, you guys”. I will not say what came after.
It is a pity that families are struggling because this government sings two different tunes, one before the election and one after. The ones who get it in the neck are the poor.