Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak to the motion my party has put forth.
Let us look at the facts. An overpayment of some $3.3 billion was given to the provinces. What is absolutely shocking about this is that it took years for the government to miss $3.3 billion of the taxpayer's money. What kind of accounting system allows such a massive amount of money to go missing or, as an hon. member from the other side has said, what kind of computer error? What kind of computers is the government using? What kind of programs is it using? What kind of auditing is it using to miss $3.3 billion of the Canadian taxpayer's money? This is not a few thousand dollars. In view of the need for money in critical programs like health care and education it is unbelievable that it took the government so long to miss it.
The federal government has the audacity to ask the provinces to repay the money when it cut transfer payments by 33%. How does it do that in good conscience, particularly in view of some of the things I will unveil in the next while? An overpayment of $3.3 billion, 33% of it in the form of transfer payments, is being yanked away from the provinces by the federal government. The government said it had to cut costs so it will cut 6% of its own funding and remove 33% from the provinces. What does that mean? It means the government is trying to balance its books on the backs of the provinces.
What the federal government has neglected to say is that, as my hon. colleague has mentioned, there is only one taxpayer. Only one person bears the brunt and the burden of the government's actions, good or bad, in terms of money: the hard-working Canadian who slogs, is overtaxed and often underpaid for the work he or she does. That is what is happening. It is a complete violation of the public trust.
Is it intentional? That is up for debate. Some of us would argue it is. However at the very least it demonstrates gross and utter incompetence on the part of the government in managing the public finances, one of the key roles of government. One of the questions the Canadian public will ask in any election is if a political party has the competence and professionalism to manage its finances and tax money adequately. The judgment is a resounding no, and the proof will bear it out.
At issue is not only the $3.3 billion that went “missing” and was suddenly discovered. Let us look at the government's creation of foundations. The public will be interested to know that since the late 1990s the Liberal government has shuttled away $7.3 billion of the taxpayer's money into arm's length foundations which I call slush funds. Some $7.3 billion of the taxpayer's money has been hidden away from public audits leaving parliament, MPs and the minister unable to oversee where it is spent.
Given that we are labouring under a $540 billion debt and have significant expenditures in health care, education, defence and other areas, why was this done? Why was $7.3 billion shuttled away to the side, put under a carpet and hidden from public audits and the jurisdiction and oversight of parliament? Why did that happen to the public purse? There is a case against the government in terms of its misspending, misrepresentation and its neglect, misuse, and abuse of the public trust.
Let us look at the distribution of contracts. The public would be shocked to know the Prime Minister's own riding of Shawinigan received more government handouts and contracts than entire provinces in western Canada. My province of British Columbia did not receive as much as one riding which happens to belong to the Prime Minister. Is it a coincidence? I think not.
Let us also look at the government's expenditures such as ads. We shockingly found out that the government had been charged 26 times the cost that was charged to the provincial government in Quebec for ads in a Quebec publication. Why did that happen? Why does the government feel that it can spend money in such a fashion? Where is the accountability and the oversight that allows individuals in the government to spend 26 times what they should for ads? That is an important question. Why did the government pay $1.6 million for three contracts with Groupaction, two of which were identical and neither of which the government received? How did that happen?
CIDA has aid money to be spent internationally, supposedly to help the poorest of the poor. Why is the vast majority of those moneys spent in Canada, never getting to the sharp edge of aid and care for those most impoverished? The Prime Minister has asked for more money for CIDA. Why do we not ask the question first: Is the money spent appropriately? Is it spent effectively? Why is it being spent in Canada instead of being spent in the most needy countries in the world?
Part of the reason this has been allowed to happen is that the Prime Minister's office and the Prime Minister have neutered parliament. The normal oversight mechanisms that we should have to access information are onerous, complex and difficult. Why does the government hide and white out critical pieces of information that allow members from all sides of the House to analyze the way in which the public's money is spent?
One of our key roles is to use the public's money wisely. Why are we not doing that? Why are we not allowed to do our job? Why has the Prime Minister's office chosen to emasculate and neuter parliament, preventing us from doing our job? That is why the government has these problems. The hot water the Prime Minister finds himself in today is directly of his own doing. He has neutered parliament. He has amassed such a large amount of power in his office that the normal checks and balances in any healthy democracy are absent. They are absent because we live in a dictatorship and the creation of this dictatorship has removed the checks and balances that we need to do the work of the Canadian public.
It goes on. We saw the billion dollar boondoggle in HRDC. We have seen gross misrepresentation of finances by the government time and time again. One thing that may help is regular public audits. The government should be obligated to utilize the good work of the auditor general. Why the government does not use the auditor general to get the public's finances in better order, I do not know. However the auditor general is an effective resource that should be used to develop ways and methods of accountability in how we spend the public's money.
Second, we could create a system of accountability within the system. If people in the public service save money, they would receive a benefit. That would be a healthy thing to do. If they come up with good suggestions to save money without diminishing effectiveness, they should be rewarded financially. If a public servant can come up with a plan that will save the taxpayer $1 million, his or her department should receive, say, 5% of that. Giving $50,000 to a department that saves $950,000 is a good investment. Developing an incentive program would go a long way to improve the morale and the health of our public service. It would also enable us to use public money more wisely.
Many members in the public service are paid less than their counterparts in the private sector. This would be a way to improve effectiveness and encourage the public service to offer a financial reward for good work.
In closing, I hope the government sees this as a constructive motion. I hope the motion will say to the government that it has an obligation to spend the public's money wisely and effectively, that it is not doing a good job, that it should buck up, listen to the constructive solutions coming from this side of the House and implement them. If that happens, we will all be able to do our jobs better.