Mr. Speaker, just before we broke for today's question period, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance made reference to the fall update of the government when I correctly alleged that the budget of some weeks ago was not a budget with any vision. It was without an overarching plan for the country. Quite frankly, it would not be very difficult to take the fall update to find much of an echo of that in the budget of March 19.
In fact, will read a quote, which our leader used in his speech, from the Caledon Institute. It states:
—the worst part of the Budget is what [it lacks]....No measures to reduce child poverty, no early childhood education or meaningful national child care, no plans to address real infrastructure needs now, no commitment to tackle the abysmal reality of Aboriginal life in Canada, and no housing program.
Our leader goes on to say, “The budget is short-sighted and the government has the responsibility to ask where do we want Canada to be in 10 years and how do we get there?”
That is what budgets are about along with throne speeches. They are supposed to help Canadians understand how government will go from now to some time in the future. This budget fails to do that.