Mr. Speaker, first let me applaud the member for taking the time to drive across Canada on our infrastructure system, on our national highway. I think every member in the House should do it. If they did, they would actually see how bad the road systems are in places. There are places where there have been improvements and they have done work. However there are lots of places where they have not. If we speak with local people, they know where people have been killed. There has been a tremendous loss of life in certain spots. I know that has happened in my home province in my own area. Why? Because the resources have not been put into the highway structure.
As the member pointed out, it is the backbone of our transportation system. Of course something like 80% of our population lives within a few hundred kilometres of the 49th parallel, our southern border, and this is the main artery which connects Canadians from coast to coast. It is critical that we do this.
I also want to respond to something else he mentioned. He pointed out the tax on the tax and this being an illegal practice. I will quickly point out that the government makes the laws. I do not know if it is technically illegal but it is morally wrong. We have seen how the government spends taxpayer money, whether it be Shawinigate, the billion dollar boondoggle, the advertising scandals and the billions of dollars on the gun registry. That borders on corruption. I think if anyone did that in the private sector, that individual would be put in jail. This is just another example of how the government has absolutely no respect for taxpayer dollars.
This is about having respect for taxpayer dollars and how they are collected. Again, the gasoline tax shows that it does not have an ounce of respect for how it spends taxpayer money. It goes into a cookie jar, then the government gets its sticky fingers all over it and does whatever the hell it feels like doing with it.