Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Newmarket—Aurora. Her constituents chose wisely when they sent her to this place. I should give her a little warning that every now and then an innocent person truly is sent to the House of Commons. It has happened here and we appreciate what she brings to the table.
The essence of our democratic system is that elected people travel from their constituencies to this chamber, represent the views of their constituents and then when they go back home they report progress on how we are doing on the things important to them.
As a matter of fact, in the lexicon of modern political labels there are interesting definitions. The modern definition of a Liberal is somebody who believes that the people should be the servant of the government, whereas a Conservative believes that the government should be the servant of the people.
Reflecting on and listening to the Speech from the Throne, it was very clear that the government fits into the category of Liberal, believing that the people should be its servants. It forgot that almost two-thirds of the electorate did not even vote for it.
As I travelled through my constituency, not just during the election but day to day, before and after, it was clear that the government missed some of the big items. There were words, as my colleague just mentioned, but no steps of action.
One of the main items I heard about was the devastating effect, in terms of trust and confidence in government, related to the horrific scandals and government waste when it comes to spending. It gets a notion in the speech but no steps of action.
We have proposed things like quarterly reports and results based auditing but none of that happens. We have proposed that high level public servants should have to produce expense reports when they have expenses, not receive a quarter of a million dollars a year in after tax dollars and not be accountable for it. None of that is being done by the government.
Everywhere I go in my constituency I hear concerns about the national debt that is waiting to be imposed and in fact is being imposed on the backs of our grandchildren. There is again a notion of it. It gets a minor nod of assent, but where is the legislation this session, as we have suggested, that would require government to take a percentage of the surplus and pay down debt? It is not there. The government wants to take a huge chunk of the surplus and spend it on its own programs, call it sponsorship, political slush funds or whatever. That is irresponsible and we will expose that this session.
There were no clear steps of action. My colleague just mentioned issues of trade. The softwood lumber dispute has devastated many provinces, especially in British Columbia and in my own constituency. I have sympathy when I read about the employees at Bombardier. I heard on the news that perhaps dozens could lose jobs. I hope that does not happen.
We should also remember the hundreds and thousands who have lost jobs in the province of British Columbia alone, let alone other provinces. There have been no clear steps of action to build the relationships necessary to overcome these trade disputes, especially when we win them at the world trade court. There is plenty to lever on that but nobody from the government is willing to apply the levers.
On the BSE debate, one cow has caused an industry to crater, not just in my constituency but around the country. Some of the largest ranches in Canada are in the Douglas Lake area. This has devastated them, just as the lack of action in the softwood lumber area has devastated towns like Merritt. There were no specific plans of action in the Speech from the Throne.
Infrastructure gets mentioned. Our party has brought forward proposals on how a percentage of the gas tax should go to municipalities. Where are the specifics? The mayors of not just large cities but small jurisdictions are left wondering. There are needs out there. We are not looking for mammoth concert halls to be built. In Penticton we would like a water line that takes water to the community of Naramata. It is being devastated with the pressure on infrastructure dollars.
Summerland has real water needs and all that happens is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans goes to Summerland threatening the town council with legal action because it is trying to deal with a water preservation problem. The people in Westbank and Westside are facing the same issues and there are no specific plans of action.
What about lowering the GST? Why does the government increase its take on citizens? Every time consumers pump gas into their cars the government increases its take by refusing to remove the GST which it promised over 10 years ago to scrap, abolish and kill. It is killing consumers but no words on it.
What about the democratic deficit? We are dealing with one of the major debates of our time, the definition of marriage. What has the government done? It has given it to a court to decide. That decision should be made here on behalf of our constituents at home, not outsourced to another group.
It is the same on missile defence, which is a huge issue in my constituency. There are people on both sides of the issue. What do we hear from this supposed democratic government that says it will reduce the democratic deficit? We have heard there will not even be parliamentary debate. There are a lot of issues around missile defence but no discussions.
We will not let the Liberals forget that two-thirds of the people did not vote for them and the things they are talking about in the throne speech are just words on issues related to criminal justice issues. These are big factors in my constituency.
Where is the plan to deal with the devastating problem related to the $2 billion gun registry disaster? There is no plan at all. The government allows the dollars to keep flowing to a failed program, dollars that could be going to health care or to putting police officers in communities, such as Kaleden or Okanagan Falls, which are having real difficulties with youth crime. We all want to see the power of prevention or rehabilitation working in these particular areas but we also need policing.
As their MPs, people have asked us very specifically to come to the House and present these issues and present solutions, as our leader has and as we have. They want us to go back to the constituency to report progress. I am heading back to my constituency this weekend but I will not be able to report much progress. I will report that we and our leader have put some things on the table and that we have put amendments to the Speech from the Throne that will lighten the load for people if we can get the government to agree, like lowering taxes and the issue around the huge slush fund in the employment insurance fund that is constantly skimmed off by the government.
We are putting those things on the table, but in terms of reporting progress, in terms of the people in Okanagan—Coquihalla having a sense that the government is their servant, I will not even try to sell that one because the government is not the servant of the people. The government wants people to serve it. This opposition, our leader and this party, will not allow that to happen. We are here to represent the people and we will report progress. We will report their words, but our actions will improve the life of all Canadians.