Debates of Feb. 6th, 2002

Petitions

[Monte Solberg, Canadian Alliance, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of a number of constituents in my riding I have a petition that calls upon parliament to repeal Section 13(5) of the Canada Post Corporation Act. I am happy to present this on their behalf.

[Kevin Sorenson, Canadian Alliance, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I have the privilege to present to the House a petition signed by concerned constituents of my riding of Crowfoot. The petitioners are from communities such as Czar, Wainwright, Provost, Chauvin, Amisk and Brownfield.

These constituents are calling upon the government to set guidelines to have meaningful debate and a vote in the House of Commons, to be seconded by the Senate, as it applies to writeoffs of foreign debt, that is, of our Prime Minister almost unilaterally writing off foreign debt, and the implications that has for the Canadian taxpayer.

It is my privilege to present this petition.

[Jean Augustine, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 it is my pleasure to present two petitions, the first on the issue of child pornography. The petitioners call upon parliament to take all measures necessary to ensure that possession of child pornography remains a serious criminal offence and that federal police forces be directed to give priority to enforcing laws for the protection of children.

[Jean Augustine, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

My second petition is in reference to protecting people with disabilities. The petitioners ask that parliament, under section 15(1) of the charter, uphold the Latimer decision of the Supreme Court of Canada.

[Dale Johnston, Canadian Alliance, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today. The first one has 84 signatures from petitioners who believe that it is unethical to harm or destroy some human beings in order to benefit others. Therefore the petitioners request that the Parliament of Canada ban human embryo research and direct the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to support and fund only promising ethical research that does not involve the destruction of human life.

[Dale Johnston, Canadian Alliance, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is also from constituents in my riding of Wetaskiwin who believe that it is unacceptable that our government's liberal attitudes about sex are placing our children at risk. Therefore they request that the Parliament of Canada restore the legal age of consent for sex to 18 years from the current legislated age of 14 years.

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition signed by residents of my riding.

The petitioners are asking that stricter rules apply to the labelling of genetically modified organisms contained in some food items, and that the act be amended by parliament.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all remaining questions be allowed to stand.

[The Speaker]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Motions for Papers

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Notices of Motions for the Production of Papers be allowed to stand.

[The Speaker]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker]

I wish to inform the House that because of the ministerial statement government orders will be extended by nine minutes.

The House resumed from February 5 consideration of the motion, and of the amendment.

Privilege

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I wish to advise the Chair and the House that discussions are continuing among parties with respect to this matter of privilege. While those discussions are ongoing, I believe you will find consent in the House to adjourn this matter to the next sitting. We will see what those discussions generate in the meantime.

[The Speaker]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Budget Implementation Act, 2001

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, for the Minister of Finance]

moved that Bill C-49, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on December 10, 2001, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome this opportunity today to present Bill C-49, the Budget Implementation Act, 2001 for second reading. This bill would implement many of the measures announced in the 2001 budget.

I would like to begin by giving an overview of the 2001 budget, which will set the context of the measures contained in this bill.

Allow me to go back for a moment to September 11. The terrorist attacks perpetrated that day in the United States constituted first and foremost a great human tragedy, measured in lost lives, destroyed families and rekindled fears,as the minister of finance pointed out. Budget 2001 deals with the economic impact of this tragedy.

It is based on a long term government plan to build a strong economy and to ensure a safe society, but it also responds to Canadians' immediate concerns regarding the economy and security following the events of September 11, in four ways.

First, the budget stimulates the economy in this period of global downturn and uncertainty. It provides Canadians with the means to fully benefit from the expected recovery.

Second, it acts to build personal and economic security by protecting Canadians, by keeping terrorists out of our country, and by maintaining a secure, open and efficient border.

Third, it keeps the nation’s finances healthy by balancing the budget this year and for the next two years.

Fourth, it fully protects the $100 billion tax cut announced in October 2000 and the $23.4 billion in increased support for health care and early childhood development announced in September 2000.

I wish to assure members of the House that the events of September 11 have not shaken the government's budgetary convictions.

Our government continues to lay the foundation for a better future. It continues to invest in human resources, to cut taxes, to pay down the debt and to build a strong economy.

We stand by our commitment to reduce the debt. In addition, the 2001 budget confirms that the government will continue to implement its long term plan of investing in the future without falling back into a deficit situation. This is the result of our prudent approach.

Having given a background regarding the budget, let me turn now to an overview of the bill. The major points the bill seeks to achieve can be summarized as follows.

First, with respect to transportation there is the creation of the Canadian air transport security authority, along with the introduction of the air travellers security charge. Second, there are some measures to improve the income and business tax system, as well as the employment insurance system. Third, there are measures to establish the Canadian strategic infrastructure fund and the Canada fund for Africa.

Let me speak briefly to each of these major areas in turn, beginning with the Canadian air transport security authority. As part of the government's comprehensive response to the events of September 11, the 2001 budget committed $2.2 billion over five years to enhanced air travel security. This commitment is crucial to assuring air travellers that Canada continues to have one of the safest and most secure air transportation systems in the world.

Air security services will now be consolidated under the new Canadian air transport security authority which will provide key air transport security services, a consistent and integrated air transport security system across the country, and enhanced security performance standards and services.

The authority will be responsible in the following areas. The first is the certification of screening contractors and officers. The second is pre-board screening of passengers and their belongings, taking over this function from the airlines and of others who have access to aircraft or restricted areas through screening points. The third is the acquisition, deployment and maintenance of explosives detection systems and conventional pre-board screening equipment at airports. The fourth is federal contributions for airport policing related to civil aviation security measures. The fifth is contracting with the RCMP for armed police on board aircraft.

Transport Canada will continue to regulate and monitor the provision of security services while the new authority will be responsible for delivery. This separation between service delivery and regulating and monitoring will enhance checks and balances in the system. Air travellers can now be assured that Canada continues to have one of the safest air transportation systems in the world.

I come now to the question of the air travellers security charge. The enhanced air travel security system will be funded by a new air travellers security charge. The charge will be collected by air carriers or their agents when airline tickets are purchased.

Enhanced air travel security will principally benefit air travellers using the air transportation system. A user charge is therefore fiscally responsible and reasonable.

For travel within Canada the total cost of the charge will be $12 for a one way ticket and $24 for a round trip. The charge on a ticket to the continental U.S. will be $12. It will be $24 for a ticket to travel outside Canada and the continental U.S. These amounts are inclusive of GST where the GST applies.

For travel in Canada the charge will apply to flights connecting the 90 airports where the government is planning security enhancements. Small aircraft such as those carrying only four to six passengers as well as certain specialty services such as air ambulance services will be exempt. All proceeds of the charge including net GST will be used to fund the enhanced air travel security system.

The last point on this issue is a critical and very simple one. If revenues exceed costs over time, the government will reduce the charge.

Let us now look at the measures having to do with the EI system.

The first measure I would like to examine improves parental benefits under the EI program.

In order to improve the support provided for families, among other measures, the 2000 budget extended the duration of parental benefits under the EI program from 10 to 35 weeks, thus allowing parents to spend more time at home with a newborn or a newly adopted child. Bill C-49 further improves these benefits.

Under the current EI program, certain seriously ill women may not qualify for extended parental benefits because of the 50 week ceiling on the combined total of sick leave, maternity benefits and parental benefits an individual is allowed.

Bill C-49 increases this ceiling by one week for each week of sick leave taken by a mother during her pregnancy or while she is receiving parental benefits, so that she may benefit fully from the special benefits. This change will take effect on March 3, 2002.

The second measure takes into account the fact that parents must now apply for parental benefits in the year following the birth or adoption of a child. This may limit benefits when a child is hospitalized for a long period after birth or adoption.

In order to allow a bit of leeway to parents who want to start applying for the parental benefit once the child comes home from hospital, they will now have up to two years to apply. This change will come into effect once Bill C-49 is passed.

I come now to the third element, the Canada strategic infrastructure fund. As I said, the government's long term goals are to build a strong economy and a secure society and to improve the quality of life for Canadians. The strategic investments in the 2001 budget help achieve these objectives by dealing with today's needs and bridging to a better tomorrow.

The modern economy of the 21st century requires a backbone of sound physical infrastructure to sustain the nation's growth and our quality of life. Canada must have the physical infrastructure it needs to succeed. Previous budgets allocated funding to improve provincial and municipal infrastructure. In particular the 2000 budget introduced both the infrastructure Canada program and the strategic highway infrastructure program.

To meet the need for additional support for large strategic infrastructure projects, Bill C-49 will establish the Canada strategic infrastructure fund with a minimum funding of $2 billion as set out in the 2001 budget. This new fund will compliment other federal infrastructure initiatives such as the two programs I just mentioned.

Working with provincial and municipal governments in the private sector, the Canada strategic infrastructure fund will provide assistance for large infrastructure projects in areas like highways and rail, local transportation, tourism, urban development, and water and sewage treatment.

Investments in these projects will stimulate job creation and confidence in the short term and will make the economy more productive and competitive in the medium term. The minister of infrastructure will be responsible for all government infrastructure initiatives to better co-ordinate all government activities in this area.

I come now to the subject of the Canada fund for Africa. As my hon. colleagues will recall, the Speech from the Throne last January indicated the long term well-being of Canada and Canadians depends upon success in improving global human security, prosperity and development.

At the G-8 summit in Genoa last July, African leaders presented their proposals and G-8 leaders, Canada included, pledged to support this initiative. The partnership is about Africans taking control of their own development.

Since then the Prime Minister has restated his commitment that development in Africa will be one of the principal themes of the G-8 summit that we will host this coming June. As was stated in question period today, the Prime Minister's support recently in New York for this project received strong support.

In recognition of this commitment the 2001 budget announced $500 million for African development. The new Canada fund for Africa will provide $500 million in funding for activities that will help reduce poverty, provide primary education and set Africa on a sustainable path to a brighter future.

I come now to investing in skills and learning. Another strategic investment in the budget involves these very things. The acquisition of skills and learning is further encouraged through a number of changes to the tax system.

First, tax assistance will be provided to help apprentice vehicle mechanics cope with their extraordinary costs. A second measure affects adult students who received government assistance to pay their tuition fees for basic education at the primary or secondary school levels.

This assistance must be included in income without any offsetting credits. For many the tax cost of receiving this assistance is a real burden and discourages them from advancing their education. Bill C-49 will exempt from tax the tuition assistance for basic adult education provided under certain programs including employment insurance. This measure will apply to eligible tuition assistance received after 1996.

A third measure will help more students undertake lifelong learning. Beginning in 2002 the education tax credit will be extended to students who have received financial assistance for post-secondary education under certain government training programs including employment insurance.

These changes would provide significant tax relief to approximately 65,000 Canadians for upgrading their skills and give them access to the same tax benefits that are available to other post-secondary students.

I will briefly mention a number of tax measures to improve the personal income tax and business tax system. First, there would be an improvement of the tax treatment of intergenerational transfers of woodlots.

Second, we would make permanent the 1997 budget measure that provided special tax assistance for donations of certain securities to public charities.

Third, there is a measure to improve the system for providing GST credits.

Fourth, to provide a cash flow benefit to small business, federal corporate tax instalment payments for January, February and March 2002 would be deferred for at least six months without penalty.

Finally, although this is not an exhaustive list of measures, the budget allows full deductibility for the cost of meals provided to employees at temporary construction work camps where employees could not be expected to return home each day.

In conclusion, Canada's air system is among the safest in the world. The new air security authority will make it even safer.

The charge for air passenger security is financially wise and reasonable, and it is only logical that the costs of these new expenses relating to security be borne by passengers using the airlines rather than all taxpayers.

The changes to the parental benefits available under EI will help families of newborns or newly adopted children.

The Canadian Strategic Infrastructure Fund will make it possible for Canada to have the material infrastructure it requires for success in the 21st century.

The Africa Fund is concrete proof that Canadians have not lost sight of their obligation to help those who are less well off than themselves.

What is more, the income tax changes help enhance the simplicity and fairness of our taxation system.

The 2001 budget reflects the decisions reached by the government in these uncertain times. Managing the economy in hard times is a matter of balance. The 2001 budget is the best example of this. It provides the support that is essential during a crucial period, but not at the expense of past progress or future prospects.

In conclusion, I encourage hon. members to give the legislation their full support. I remind them that both the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority and the Air Travellers Security Charge must be in place by April 1.

[Monte Solberg, Canadian Alliance, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise and address the budget implementation act, Bill C-49. I regret to tell the hon. member who just spoke that it does not enjoy the support of the official opposition.

As I have said before in the House, this is the worst budget the finance minister has ever brought down. Frankly, it is a disgrace to see spending rise by 9.3% and to see some other things that have occurred. We had a $6.2 billion planning deficit until this year when the government conveniently changed how the books were kept to avoid the embarrassment of having the deficit exposed by its own documents. These are not just my observations. Others have observed them. I will say more about that in a moment.

The markets have passed judgment on the budget. We saw this in the precipitous fall of the dollar in the last several weeks. The decline has been absolutely amazing despite the amateurish efforts of the government to talk up the dollar, as if anyone could talk up the dollar on a permanent basis. It can only be done in the short run.

The government is confused. We have seen that in the events of the last couple of days. The government is talking about changing the infrastructure program it proposed from an arm's length program into one run by the Deputy Prime Minister and subject to the caprices and whims of a politician. At bottom that is what the Deputy Prime Minister is. Being a politician he is always tempted to use government money for his own political ends. It is a dangerous situation and we need to be wary of it.

We saw the government propose another accounting trick in the budget where it would take $500 million and put it into a trust. This is what it did with the Africa Fund. The finance minister today said no, that would not happen. He said the money would go into debt retirement. The government has been stung by the accusation that it has not retired debt this year. Even $500 million is a pittance when we have a debt of $547 billion. It would take hundreds of years to pay down the debt if we proceeded at a pace of just $500 million a year.

The budget is a disgrace for other reasons. At a time when the whole world has been rocked by the events of September 11 and when the first role of government must always be to protect its citizens, it is an absolute disgrace that so little emphasis in the budget was put on protecting the public. I will talk in greater detail about that in a moment.

It has been revealed that the government has made a $3.3 billion accounting error à la Enron in the last couple of weeks. This points to how money seems to flow through the fingers of the government like water. It calls into question whether the government has done an adequate job of scrutinizing all it does to find waste and mismanagement. I would argue it has not. I will say more about that in a moment.

To sum up, this has been a terrible budget. It does not do the finance minister any credit. The finance minister has won plaudits even from the opposition for some though not all of the things he has done. However he blew his reputation completely with this budget.

I will offer as evidence some newspaper commentary we saw in the wake of the budget. Here is one from the Montreal Gazette . Commenting that the finance minister “spends like Santa”, it says:

As the first budget in 22 months, it was unforgivably tardy. As a security and military spending boost, it was undeniably tepid.

Here is another from the Montreal Gazette . It quotes Jack Mintz, president of the C.D. Howe Institute and one of the most trusted economists in the country. He called the infrastructure foundation “the Liberal Leadership Candidates' Strategic Slush Fund”, noting it could be used for anything that fits under a broad description.

Here is what TD Canada Trust had to say about the budget:

--under the older planning framework, the government would be targeting a deficit in the order of $5.5 billion for fiscal 2002-03.

Here is an editorial from the Ottawa Sun :

This budget demonstrates marvelously that the biggest threat to the nation's finances isn't recession or terrorism, it's this government's abject refusal to embrace a policy of spending restraint, especially during tough economic times.

Andrew Coyne's headline in the National Post calls it:

A reckless, dishonest, two-year con job: Budget casts aside undeserved cloak of fiscal responsibility.

Here is what Terence Corcoran of the National Post had to say about the budget of December:

--Paul Martin reiterated his commitment to the contingency reserve as an annual $3-billion pool that would be used to cover forecasting risks and other economic errors. “It is not a source of funding for new policy initiatives. If not needed, it will be used to pay down the public debt.” Yesterday, Mr. Martin rewrote the rules.

Walter Robinson of the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation said:

Minister Martin has once again refused to institute a schedule of legislated debt reduction...and thereby, continues the fiscal crime of intergenerational tax evasion perpetuated against our children--

I offer these quotes as evidence of my assertion that this is the worst budget the minister has ever brought down.

I will say a few things about what the budget did not do. It did not inspire confidence in the ailing dollar. The fall in the dollar since the budget came down is evidence of that. It has done nothing and will do nothing to improve our productivity. That can only happen when the government withdraws to some degree from the economy, is less intrusive, lowers taxes and provides some kind of economic vision for the future. That has not happened.

As a result the budget has done nothing to offer new job opportunities at a time when unemployment is rising. Surely to goodness the government should be concerned about that but it was not reflected in the budget. The budget has done nothing to offer new opportunities for investment in Canada, something which is completely linked to the concept of productivity.

In short, there is no vision to help Canada reach its incredible potential as a nation. The government did not rebalance its spending. In the wake of September 11 that is shocking. In not doing so the government is almost guilty of gross neglect.

For every year in the $170 billion budget a spending envelope of about $15 billion would go to grants and subsidies. I will not say the entire $15 billion consists of things that can be cut out of government without harming people. However billions of dollars in the envelope are examples of unnecessary and low priority spending.

Grants to artists and regional development grants have been shown over and over again to distort the economy and hurt businesses that are making it on their own. They are always subject to politics. We have often revealed in the House how the government rewards its political friends by handing out grants and subsidies so liberally. I say that both figuratively and literally.

In not addressing the $15 billion envelope of grants and subsidies the government did not find new money without raising taxes that could have been used to help it fulfill the most important role of any government. What is the primary role of government? It is to uphold the law. No society can long survive unless there is a government that consistently upholds the law.

In order to do that we would need a strong criminal justice system. We would need the police to enforce it. We would need good controls on our borders and on immigration. We would also need a strong national defence and a strong intelligence arm.

However the record of the government is to take what is the core business of government and chop it to the bone while it expands spending in all other areas that really are slush funds, in my judgment, and money the government uses to help it win elections.

The result is that organizations like CSIS, which is our intelligence arm in helping to protect the Canadian public, has been slashed to the bone. Previous to this budget, the government introduced cuts to CSIS of about 28%, and even with the money it put back into CSIS, we are still at 1993 funding levels in inflation adjusted dollars.

CSIS, an organization that has been charged with finding out if there are terrorists or criminal elements trying to get into the country, if they are active in the country, what they are doing, how active they are and if they are infiltrating government, for instance, has been cut to the bone under the leadership of the Liberal government.

The government should be roundly criticized for that because when it does something like that it puts public security at risk. We have seen many examples in the last several months of terrorists who were allowed into the country, in some cases being sought by international authorities in connection with the efforts of al-Qaeda and perhaps even in connection with what happened on September 11. That is disgraceful and we should not be allowing it.

It is not to say that could never happen, even with a fully funded organization, but obviously the government has to put more priority on it. The same applies to immigration. We pointed to problems over and over again in the House. We think immigration is positive and it is a good thing but it does not mean that we just let everybody in. There should be some scrutiny at the borders but that does not require a bunch of new laws, laws like the government gave to itself in the wake of September 11 that allow it to do all kinds of things without consulting parliament, things that are contrary to our common law tradition, where the government can arrest people for 72 hours without allowing them to access a lawyer and without pressing charges.

We really need more officials at the border to handle all the cases we have but we do not have that. It is well know that there are many thousands of people who have been allowed into Canada as refugees and were subsequently turned down but we have no idea if they actually left the country.

Why were they turned down? They were suspected, in many cases, of being a security risk. We have no idea whether they left the country. There are some estimates that as many as 27,000 of those people may be running loose in Canada. Rather obviously, that should be a huge concern of the government but the government has always shortchanged security even though it is the primary role that any government should play.

It was a few years ago that the Canadian Alliance pointed out in the House that the RCMP in British Columbia did not have enough money to put new tires on its cars. It did not have enough money to put fuel in its boats and planes, and to do drug interdiction on the west coast. It was an absolute disgrace.

The primary role of government is to set the laws and enforce them because no country or society can exist without that. However the government had no money for that while it spent billions upon billions for discretionary spending on all kinds of crazy things. That was a disgrace.

We are now trying to play catch up, but it really is an indictment of the government that it made it such a low priority for so many years. Over the last couple of days we have had examples of how the government has failed our customs officials who are the first line of defence when people come into Canada.

When people enter the country the first people they meet are our customs officials. Customs officials must uphold dozens and dozens of statutes in Canada. We have heard stories of how customs officers, who are not armed by the way, have been so afraid of some of the people they are dealing with at the border that they have actually allowed them into the country because they themselves were not armed and feared that the person on the other side of the window was. We have heard from customs officials themselves that this has occurred.

We are arguing that the government has done a terrible job of looking after our customs officials to make sure they are adequately protected and can make sure that these people who are suspected of criminal activity or even terrorist activity not be allowed into the country or in fact arrested.

It was revealed the other day that customs officials at Pearson airport do not have any protective gear. They do not have pepper spray, batons or flak jackets. However we understand that immigration officials have been issued those things. Is that not a little ironic? The customs officials are the first ones to deal with new arrivals into Canada but they are not given those things. It is only after these people have been pulled aside by the customs officials that they are handed over to the immigration officials.

We asked the Deputy Prime Minister about that yesterday and he was quite confused about it all. He did not know that it was happening. We have it on good authority that it is happening. We want the government to start taking the security of Canada seriously, something that was simply not reflected in the budget.

I find it ironic that in the last number of days there have been a lot of concerns coming from the Liberal backbenches and actually even from former cabinet ministers, like Lloyd Axworthy, about sovereignty in the wake of what happened on September 11 and in the wake of discussions about co-operating more fully with our allies, especially the United States, on security measures, for instance. The reason this is very ironic is because the same people who have repeatedly voted against increasing funding for Canada's military, the RCMP and CSIS, are the same people who complain about a threat to our sovereignty by the United States.

They do not worry about the threats to our sovereignty by terrorists or criminals that are caused by a lack of funding for officials who have to greet dangerous people at our borders. However the moment we talk about working in a co-operative way with the United States and exercising our sovereignty by making a decision in the interest of Canada to work with the United States, they rise up on their hind legs and start to scream bloody murder. I think they are guilty of gross hypocrisy.

It does not end there. What do we mean when we talk about sovereignty? I think we mean that if a country is sovereign it has the ability to make decisions that affect its own destiny. What happens in Canada if we as a country make the decision to work co-operatively with the United States on issues that we think will benefit Canada? What if we exercise our sovereignty in that way? Is it offensive to members across the way if we make that decision? We are exercising our sovereignty.

I do not think the issue here is the issue of sovereignty. What members across the way have a problem with is co-operation with the United States of America, which many of them frankly resent. They resent the Americans because they have become so extraordinarily wealthy at a time when our standard of living is falling against that of the United States. They resent them because they are able to put more money into public health care than Canada has with its socialized medical system.

They have become resentful. They mask this resentment with the argument about sovereignty but let us look at it for what it is. It is bitterness and resentment, and it is time it was exposed.

I want to--

[Myron Thompson, Canadian Alliance, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I want to apologize to the hon. member for the Alliance but the message he is delivering is such a good one there should be more Liberals here to hear it. There are only three in the House. I would call for quorum.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)]

Indeed there are not enough members. Call in the members.

And the count having been taken:

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)]

We have quorum now and debate shall continue.

[Monte Solberg, Canadian Alliance, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my friends across the way honour me with their presence in wake of the speech I am giving.

I want to say a few words about something that is perhaps the greatest flaw in this budget and it is really the greatest flaw of the government in general. The Liberal government has been in power since 1993. Where it falls short, more so than in any other way, is with respect to the economy.

The government makes decisions every year about how to spend roughly $170 billion of taxpayer money. I think it is engaging in a game. It takes the hard earned dollars of taxpayers and appropriate them to itself in the form of taxes and then hands the money back to those same taxpayers and tells them to be grateful. That is fine as far as it goes. However, as members across the way know, that has a terrible impact ultimately on the economy. I will get into that in more detail in just a moment.

The truth is that in the last number of years Canada's standard of living has fallen rather dramatically. I want to quote some statistics in order to help make that case. The 1990s really was a decade of drift in Canada. I want to touch on some numbers and I hope members will allow me to do that.

Taxes drifted higher as a share of the economy in 2000 to 44.3% of GDP, up from 44% in 1999. The Canadian living standard fell $44, or about 0.2%, from $17,915 in 1989 to $17,871 in 2000. Over that entire decade our standard of living actually went down.

The U.S. standard of living increased by $2,573 or about 13% from U.S. $20,546 in 1989 to $23,119 in 2000, an average annual increase of 1.1%. An average American could buy more in 2000 than they could in 1989. They were much richer.

The gap between Americans and Canadians increased 61% between 1989 and 2000. By 2000, Canadians were just 70.3% as well off as Americans, down from 79.3% in 1989.

I want to underline that those are not my numbers. It was just a couple of years ago that the former industry minister, now the Deputy Prime Minister, raised these issues as the industry minister in the House. He said that the average standard of living for Canadians at that time was lower than that of the poorest of the poor U.S. states, Alabama and Mississippi. That was a tragedy. Does anyone know who that was a real tragedy for? It was a real tragedy for the poorest of poor Canadians.

For years I have sat in this place and listened to the government lecture us on how it cared about the little guy. However when the economy does not move at its full capacity, who are the people who are hurt? It is not the people with big incomes and all kinds of education. It is not the people with all kinds of contacts. It is not part of the family compact. It is not people who are connected to the government. Those are not the people who are hurt. It is the people without skills. It is the people who come from underdeveloped regions of the country.

The reason our economy does not move at full capacity and why we have an unemployment rate that has gone from 7% to 8% to 8.4% in the last several months is because the government decided it was willing to sacrifice economic growth in order to sustain billions upon billions of dollars in funding that it can use to politically benefit it and its colleagues. That is a moral outrage and a disgrace but it happens every budget.

What the Liberals should do, and they know this because they have economists who sit in their caucus, is pare out the unnecessary spending. By definition, if it is unnecessary, it is a waste and should not be in there. They should turn it back to people in the form of lower taxes, which creates more activity in the economy and broadens the tax base. When more businesses start up because of more activity, more jobs are created and eventually the unemployment rate is lowered.

The best example is the recent expansion in the United States. I pointed to this many times in the House. During the height of the U.S. expansion, the unemployment rate in the black community in the United States, which traditionally has been the poorest ethnic community in the United States, dropped to 7%. It was the same as our national unemployment rate in Canada. That was a wonderful thing because the black community had been disadvantaged for so many decades in the United States.

As a result of that great expansion, many companies that could not find workers when the unemployment rate was 4% went into areas where the unemployment was very high. They went into ghettos. They said they would train the people because they wanted them to come to work for them. Maybe these people had been on welfare their entire lives, or did not have the skills or had not finished school. However the companies wanted them to work for them. The companies said that if they did, they would not only get a wage but they would get some training, some contacts, some confidence and some hope, something they had not had that until then. That is the great triumph of an economy that is moving at full capacity.

In Canada, our economy cannot move at full capacity because it so weighed down by taxes and debt that the government has built up.

The way to change that is to change the entire course of what we do. We do not just maintain the status quo or make it worse by increasing spending by 9.3%, which was what the government did last time around. We shed all that heavy baggage of extraordinary spending that is not needed and offer it back to people in the form of lower taxes. We cut unnecessary regulation and pay down debt. The government should focus on its core role, which is to ensure that we have a peaceful country and that people are protected and secure.

If that were done, eventually underdeveloped regions of Canada, just like occurred in the United States in the recent expansion, would see industries move into them, like Cape Breton, Newfoundland, or northern Canada, northern Ontario, northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan. Industries would move there because of the pools of labour, those people who do not have jobs but want them. Pretty soon people would have the opportunity they did not have before.

It is to the shame of the government that it has never ever recognized this obvious fact that it needs to do things to make our economy work much faster so that people who are on the bottom end and who have never had a chance in Canada will finally have some kind of an opportunity.

I promise the government that as long as I am in opposition, I am going to harry it on this every chance I get. It has been completely hypocritical to the point where the Liberals speak forever in this place about how much they care, yet on the other hand, their actions show something completely different.

I am simply going to conclude by saying the budget implementation act should not be supported. Again, this is a disgraceful budget, the worst effort ever by the finance minister. We see that in recent developments where the government is still trying to tinker with it two months after it coming out. We see the judgment of the markets in the form of a falling dollar. It is rather obvious the markets do not care for it and think the government is out of control. A 9.3% spending increase is absolutely shocking.

For instance, the government has not put any emphasis on providing for our military, those brave men and women who are going to Afghanistan. It has not put a priority on protecting them by funding them adequately and ensuring they are well equipped. The same applies to customs officers, immigration officials, RCMP and CSIS agents, all those people who do so much to protect our country.

I urge members around this place to vote against Bill C-49, the worst budget ever produced by the government.