Mr. Speaker, today is budget day, and while the economists, the lobbyists, the activists and the journalists will all have their pronouncements, millions of Canadians will each have a very simple test: Am I better off? Is my family better off? Is my family better off with lower taxes on fuel, clothing and furniture? Is my family better off with more police to serve and protect? Is my family better off when the government empowers real child care experts, mom and dad? It is a simple test, but a necessary test.
For us as members of this House, we must remember that this is our test too. Not are we individually better off, but is the country better off for our being here?
Last budget day I mentioned my friends Andrew and Vicki, farmers with three small children in eastern Saskatchewan. This budget will be a success tomorrow if they are better off than they were yesterday. They will be better off because this government has asked and answered one simple question for all Canadians.