Mr. Speaker, I did not conveniently forget anything. The budget really is not worth talking about. What is in there is very minimal.
In terms of the tax collectors, the government is hiring 9,600 more people. This is not to fight underground economies. We know what it is for. There is a $12 billion tax deficit that needs to be collected and it happens to be from good, hard working, honest Canadian businesses, men and women who get harassed daily. The government wants that money. The Liberals will do anything to get their hands on money. Boy, do those guys love money.
Let us talk about the debt for a minute. Had it not been for the Liberal government in the beginning, there never would have been deficit spending to begin with, but that was the thing to do. Then the government changed to the Conservatives and they liked the idea so they did it. Then it went back to the Liberals and they did it even more. Then it went back to the Conservatives and they did it. It was back and forth for 40 years until we ended up with a $600 billion debt. The Liberals are now saying they are the wonderful people who are going to come along and fix it. They are very slow about it. And they started it in the first place.
I mentioned my seven grandchildren. I am afraid it will be their grandchildren who will end up paying off the debt at the pace the government is going. It has missed opportunities over and over again in the last five years when the economy was super with surpluses pouring in. Instead the government pocketed it.
The member talked about the reduction in EI. Then why do we still have a $36 billion surplus? The Liberals think it is their money. That is how they reduce the debt a little bit. That is how they get rid of the things they should do to some degree. They took the Canadian taxpayers' money. They took the employers' and the employees' money to reduce the debt. That money should have been returned to where it came from.
A lot of businesses in my riding would love to reduce their payroll taxes. If they were able to do that, they might just be able to show a better profit than they are capable of doing right now.
However, the government has the kind of power to go into people's homes and take their belongings. They are not underground criminals. They are honest, hard working taxpayers who have become delinquent on their taxes through no fault of their own in a number of cases. However, our compassionate, caring Liberal government will look after it.
The member talked about the deferrals. It is amazing that in the same breath he said “Look what we have done. We have provided deferrals to small businesses so they can pay their taxes”. How about a deferral so they can make a decent living? It is always to pay their taxes.
People will have to pay an extra $24 on their airline tickets. That will put small airlines out of business, but that is the business caring Liberal government. A normal flight of $60 from Calgary to Edmonton will now cost so much that people will drive to Edmonton from Calgary. It will save them money. Guess who suffers? The airline industry that is providing this service to people and it is doing a fine job of it. WestJet is doing a fine job. Maybe it should run the government for a while and the government would learn how to manage its money.