Mr. Speaker, there was an international report released this morning from a group called Social Watch, a coalition of 400 non-governmental organizations from 50 countries. What it found is that between 1997 and 2003 Canada's economy was the fastest growing among G-8 countries, but the problem is that there has been a decline in the quality of life for middle income people. Poverty is rising among children and new immigrants, and it is very difficult for the middle income earners to afford post-secondary education for their kids.
Federal spending stands at 11% of the economy, down from 16% in 1993, well below the national historic average. Only 38% of unemployed workers received government benefits, down from 75% in the early 1990s. More than 1.7 million households live on less than $20,000 a year and most are very precariously housed. They do not own their own home and spend more than 30% of their income on rent. This is during a time when we were having an economic boom.
During the nineties there were steep cuts when the Liberal government was in power. What have the Liberals done to our economy and what are they planning to do? They have wrecked the middle class dreams of having a good standard of living with the steeps cuts in the mid-nineties.