Mr. Speaker, usually when somebody swears in the House you correct them. I heard the hon. member across the way use the words “rural Canada”. Normally, coming from that side of the House they are swear words. Rural Canada has been ignored by the government for so long.
I have heard some members today talk about high taxes. High taxes affect everyone in this country, but they affect rural Canada more than any other place because of the different obstacles. Even the minister pointed that out.
Judging by the lack of spending in rural Canada over the years, it has been totally ignored. One thing that really hurt rural Canada and me specifically was the announcement by the government that when it came to infrastructure, the definition of small communities was 250,000. That is totally ridiculous. It is a blatant mockery. At first I thought it was just a sick joke. It is the same as taking a rural Canadian out to his barnyard, knocking him down in the manure pile and then stepping on his shoulders to make sure he gets good and dirty.
Rural Canada is short of funding for roads and bridges. On health care, there are doctor shortages. We hand over our cheques. For a long time the government reduced the funding that went to health care which hurt rural Canada a lot. After a lot of pressure from this side of the House the government finally agreed to put some of that money back in. That is good, but it hands the cheque over to the province without any direction.
I want to know what the government will do to address that rural Canada which the member across the way mentioned. Frankly, rural Canada is sick and tired of being used, bruised and abused.