Mr. Speaker, I know that I have just a few minutes left before the fall session ends. Nevertheless, I have a few things to say to the party opposite.
I noticed a large number of recommendations in the report of the Standing Committee on Finance. They are all measures that members on this side of the House have identified as helping the most vulnerable people in our society, such as women and minority language communities. There are also recommendations about the Law Commission of Canada and the court challenges program. These programs have helped people who did not have the financial means to help themselves or who did not know whom to turn to. These programs would have continued to help them.
I noticed that the vast majority of the recommendations in this report indicate that these programs should continue. Not only should they continue, but they should also receive considerable funding from our government.
I would like the government to tell me if the Minister of Finance really intends to listen to what his committee is asking him to do: reinstate the funds he cut from services for the most vulnerable members of our society. How could he cut these programs when everyone knows there is a $13 billion surplus for 2005-06?
I just summarized what I would have liked to explain in detail with plenty of examples. Still, I would like to draw the attention of all of my colleagues in this House tonight to the fact that, of the elected representatives who are members of the Standing Committee on Finance, who belong to all parties in the House of Commons, a majority voted for the recommendations in this report. It is now up to the Minister of Finance to listen to those representatives. After all, they were elected by Canadians and they represent them.
I hope that the Minister of Finance will remember that as he prepares the report to be presented in next spring's budget.