Madam Speaker, the budget of February 18 has been described here in the House and elsewhere as the most socialist budget to be tabled in this place since the Trudeau era. I was not here then and I am not prepared to take issue with that statement. However without question, it is a spending budget, much to the great disappointment of Canadians who have been hoping for a budget of restraint and tax relief.
What the budget did was the opposite of what taxpayers wanted. Instead of fiscal prudence, taxpayers got an astounding 20% increase in federal spending over the next three years.
It was called a legacy budget by some at the time of the tabling. If the Prime Minister and the Liberals clustered around him consider a 20% increase in spending a legacy, perhaps Canadians should start thinking about changing this regime government into a democratic government.
The expression “nickel and dimer” comes to mind. It is used to describe individuals or operations which think and act small. Another expression, “chump change”, comes to mind. Both have application here when it comes to the Liberal government and its budget. The Liberals are nickel and dimers and dealers in chump change as far as the budget is concerned.
It was chump change when they set the EI premium at $1.98 in 2004. Why wait until 2004? Why not lower the rate by much more and do it much more quickly?
I will answer my own question. The Liberals will not lower it by any more or any quicker because they want that money. They need that money to continue funding hare-brained schemes like the gun registry, to make up for losses from GST fraud or for new hare-brained schemes that they have yet to come up with.
It would never occur to a Liberal that surpluses are not for spending. No, a Liberal believes that once a taxpayer has sent that money to Ottawa, it belongs to big daddy.
We on this side believe that surpluses belong to the people and that the people deserve some of their money back. We know as well that Canadians will agree to some of it being used to reduce the debt. That should not be a difficult thing for anyone to understand. Even a Liberal should be able to grasp it.
The money belongs to the people who sent it here to fund the programs that they want. Anything left over, oftentimes referred to by the government as surplus but is in fact gouging, is not to be used to fund new programs about which the Canadian people have not been consulted. However the Liberals refuse to acknowledge that.
Liberals believe in the divine right of kings and little guys from Shawinigan to do whatever it is they want to do with the public purse. They will vigorously defend the concept of the divine right to spend however much they want, whenever they want, on whatever they want, as long as it reaps them votes at election time.
What Canadians want, on top of fiscal responsibility, is creation of an economic climate in which businesses and individuals can thrive and grow and, with their success, create an even more receptive climate for others to do the same. Tragically, the Liberals believe government is the engine of success.
On this side, we favour deep and broad based tax relief, a stable monetary policy, funding for essential national infrastructure and stimulating medical and scientific research.
Over here, we lament the millions being stolen from Canadians through GST fraud. We lament even more the attitude of the Liberals, as personified by the member for Mississauga West. He said recently at committee on GST fraud that he actually contemplated moving that the meeting be adjourned. Why would he do that? Because the percentage being stolen was so insignificant.
Over $150 million stolen out of taxes is not insignificant to Canadians. Only a Liberal, or perhaps a New Democrat, would consider the theft of over $150 million an insignificant matter. Is it any wonder Canadians are in despair?
Of course Liberals also consider tax fairness for families to be too insignificant for consideration. We in the Alliance disagree. We believe that it is essential that there be greater tax fairness for families and we provide that by eliminating inequities between single and dual income families. We believe that there should be equity in choices regarding child care arrangements, including child care at home.
The Alliance believes as well that there should be integration of the tax system and social programs to better meet the needs of low income families and individuals.
When it comes to equity and equal treatment, Liberals have a philosophy, believe it or not. Liberals believe that every hard-working Canadian or Canadian family should be gouged to the max. Spare the rod and spoil the taxpayer is the Liberal mantra.
Another question Canadians have is why the high cost of vehicle and heating fuels was not addressed in the budget. There is something the Liberals do not want Canadians to know about and that is the huge windfall that comes from increasing crude oil and natural gas prices. If high wellhead prices continue, and there is every reason to believe that they will, the Liberals will have additional hundreds of millions of dollars to use to buy votes.
For every litre of fuel purchased, the Liberals gain millions through the GST that they once so despised. They get it because they put the GST, the goods and services tax, on a commodity that is already taxed. In other words, Liberals simply do not get it. They believe in sucking every last penny they can from the pockets of hard-working Canadians. They believe in taxing the taxes that Canadians already pay. It is the Liberal way: take as much as one can get and do not worry if it creates hardship for lower income Canadians.
Why was there no consideration from either the present finance minister or his predecessor for lower income hard-working Canadians in terms of the tax on gas? They are too busy fighting. One prepares to be the emperor and the other is busy squandering what he believes to be the rest of his money.
Unlike those two, we in the Alliance believe that taxes imposed for a specific purpose should actually be spent on that purpose. Is that not a funny concept? Not surprisingly, the vast majority of Canadians believes that too. Like the Canadian Alliance, the majority of Canadians believes that when a specific tax for a specific purpose is no longer needed, that tax should be cancelled.
Liberals shiver in horror at that suggestion. “Cancel a tax”, they ask in disbelief? They say that we must be insane for wanting to cancel a tax and ask if we do not realize that it is not the Liberal way. They say, “No, never. We need that money. We need that money to buy votes”.
If too many Canadians complain, the Liberals have a solution. They suggest that the complainers join a special interest group and apply for a federal grant. Canadians are ahead of the Liberals on that one. They already have joined a special interest group, under the endangered species category. They believe it is the only way taxpayers can seek and get protection from the Liberals.
They are also thinking about joining another special interest group called the tumbrel troop. These are people who believe the tumbrels should be rolling down Wellington Street in front of Parliament, bearing as passengers those responsible for the billion dollar firearms registry scandal or the HRDC billion dollar boondoggle. If there are some elected Liberals among the passengers on those two-wheeled wagons, Canadian taxpayers will applaud and cheer and happily do their knitting while they wait for the blade to fall.
Enough is enough. The government does not address the needs of Canadians. It addresses the needs of the Government of Canada. That is not the way this is supposed to work.