I would be happy to talk about the surplus. Nine billion dollars is absolute robbery. That is overtaxation. Anyone who has any competence at all in forecasting numbers could do a better job than that. It is something like $30 billion or $35 billion that the Liberals have had in surpluses, year after year, $9 billion, $10 billion, $11 billion of surplus, and that is absolute robbery.
What they should do, and I have always argued this, is have a line item in the budget of how much they are going to pay down on the debt, how much there will be for the debt repayment plan, and then collect that much in taxes.
If they put the money back in the pockets of low and middle income Canadians, if they gave hard-working Canadians a little more disposable income, gave them some freedom and choices as to how to spend that money, the economy would rise, Canadians would be better off, there would be jobs for people. Unfortunately the government thinks that it knows best, that it wants to take every thin dime it can get out of the taxpayer, and that it should decide how to spend it.
Another sore spot for people in western Canada is airport rent. Some airport authorities, like the one in my riding in Victoria, are paying outrageous amounts to the federal government in airport rent. Some could say they signed an agreement. They are paying almost $1 million a year. Airports of virtually the same size, like the one in St. John's, are not paying a dime, not one thin dime. Members opposite know it.
Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton, and Calgary airports are paying outrageous amounts of airport rent to the federal government. I have been told that some of the airport rents, Calgary for example, could almost double. The rent could go up to almost $40 million a year from around $20 million right now. Yet other airports in the country have cooked up some kind of special sweetheart deal with the government where they are paying nothing. Where is the equity in that? It is incredible. These things need to be addressed so there is equity and fairness and people right across the country are treated fairly.
The Liberals wonder why they have very few members of Parliament from places like British Columbia and Alberta. It is because Liberals do not normally give those provinces the time of day. They almost treat them like they do not exist. The facts speak for themselves. British Columbia and Alberta are not treated equitably like every other place in the country.
Hopefully at some point in time through the budget process we will see genuine reductions in taxes for low and middle income families. The Conservative Party of Canada put forward an amendment to the throne speech. The government needs to implement it so there is meaningful change.