Mr. Speaker, I am so glad you are telling those boys to be quiet.
I am pleased to rise and speak today with regard to the prebudget consultation. I will begin by taking a look at the past two budgets delivered by the Conservatives since they assumed office.
The first budget delivered in 2006, entitled “Turning a New Leaf”, would have represented a grand opportunity for any government. The Conservatives inherited a $17 billion surplus from the previous Liberal government as well as optimal economic conditions that included the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years.
However, to outside observers, many of whom admired Canada for being a progressive democracy, budget 2006 turned out to be a complete dud, mostly because it concentrated on ideology and a curious attempt by the Conservative Party to somehow reshape government in its own image.
First, the Conservatives reversed the Liberal tax cuts, which cuts were for the lowest income Canadians. They increased the tax cut from 15% to 15.5% and then they tried to deceive Canadians by claiming somehow that it was a tax reduction. Talk about being duplicitous.
The second thing the government did in its 2006 budget was eliminate the national child care program. What did it replace it by? It replaced it with a baby bonus of $100 per month. What an insult. Not a single child care space was created and $10 billion went down the drain.
Therefore, we quickly learned that turning a new leaf was a precursor to more drastic cuts in social programs.
Within six months of assuming office, the Conservative Party announced that it was somehow necessary to slash a further $1 billion worth of spending. Some of these cuts included $18 million from illiteracy skills programs, $55 million from youth employment initiatives and $11 million from the first nations and Inuit tobacco control strategy.