Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak to the budget. I first want to thank my fellow islanders for their input at a joint town hall held between the MP for Charlottetown and myself. We appreciated islanders' input and we forwarded that on to our finance people, eventually to the finance minister. Some of that input did get considered and put in but, sadly, a lot of it did not.
I spoke on the economic statement just two short months ago and I have to ask this. On what planet were the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party just two months ago with the economic statement? The Prime Minister was in denial that his policies at that time were leading the country into deficit. Now we know we are in deficit, as my hon. friend said, to the tune of $15.7 billion.
Is the Prime Minister still in denial today that his policies were leading our country into deficit and that his and the finance minister's statements during the election were to a great extent untrue? In fact, they were untrue.
In two short years the Prime Minister and his Minister of Finance have taken our country, Canada, and driven it not only to the brink of deficit, but into deficit. Worse yet, because of their spending and their inability to manage the fiscal capacity of the nation, they spent the cupboards bare and the reserves are not there anymore to do what has to be done when a country needs a stimulus package.
We should not be surprised. As we said in previous debates, that is the same Minister of Finance who drove the province of Ontario into deficit and it has been suffering as a result for decades since he was there. Now the same Minister of Finance has provided the same tragedy for Canada as a whole.
As my colleague said, this budget tries to cover up the fact that the government already has a deficit. Economists are saying there needs to be a $30 billion stimulus package this year. The government is saying it will have a $34 billion deficit, leaving the impression that this is the stimulus package. On page 217 of the budget document, we find the government is already in a $15.7 billion deficit because it could not manage the affairs of the nation.
Therefore, there really is not a $30 billion stimulus package, there really is not a $34 billion stimulus package, there is only a stimulus package of $18 billion, which is not enough. I felt I had to draw out that fact. Even with the consequences and the trouble the nation is in at the moment, the government tries to cover up the fact of how it managed the economy in the past.
However, Canada needs an economic stimulus, jobs for today and jobs for tomorrow. One of the areas where we need them the worst is in the province of Prince Edward Island.
I am concerned that the equalization cuts announced by the government in this budget will hurt Prince Edward Island and the principle of the program for the long term is being undermined. Stimulus is needed even more now than it was in the past in those provinces that receive equalization.
Let us look at a few facts that relate to P.E.I. The government announced in its first budget the building Canada fund, which would provide P.E.I. with up to $40 million over four years. However, after two years, only the existing programs, MRIF and CCIP, have been committed. Not one dollar has flowed from the Conservatives' building Canada fund, only political announcement. What we get from the government is mostly smoke and mirrors.
The bureaucratic red tape put on municipalities is of the Conservatives' making. No dollars have been spent, yet the government still runs deficits. Under the proposed new, if I could call it that, accelerated plan with its one-third requirements, it is very doubtful that municipalities and provinces could participate. Again, it would only be political announcements because they would not have the money to put in their share.
Prince Edward Island's fiscal capacity will be further reduced by the budget under the Conservative plan. Like all Atlantic provinces, P.E.I. would have their transfer payment increases, which were agreed upon in November, reduced by up to 50% by 2009-10. P.E.I. would have cuts to health care and social programming as a result of these federal decisions. At an economic time when we really need that money, the federal government is cutting back the funding. That will put the province in the position of having little fiscal flexibility to participate in any new spending for infrastructure, primary industries and skilled training.
Discussions are taking place on the community adjustments fund. As I understand it, there is not one dollar being considered for rural community stimulus. Not one dollar is being considered to stimulate agriculture, which is in real trouble. Not one dollar is being considered for innovative jobs for tomorrow. That is a huge problem.
Agriculture seems to be the forgotten industry in this budget. The government's record, as we know from this file, has clearly been one of failure. However, in Prince Edward Island, for instance, the Conservatives announced crop loss payments of $12.4 million. However, they set up a program that prevents farmers from receiving the money. With farmers facing bankruptcy, $9 million is going to go back to the federal accounts. The program was very poorly designed.
I see the Minister of Agriculture is here. He announced a $500 million agriflex program, which is something we committed to in the budget. However, the previous commitment was $500 million for what could be considered companion programs over four years. Now, it is over five. When one looks at it, the $500 million is not really $500 million; it is only $190 million because of the restructuring of existing programs.
We are seeing too much smoke and mirrors from that government. We need to get that money to the farm community. Worse than that, the agriflex program, as I understand it, will not apply to the RMP in Ontario or the ASRA program in Quebec. That creates huge difficulties for getting that money out appropriately to those farmers on the ground. The budget announced $50 million for increasing the capacity of the slaughter industry. However, how is that going to be designed? Will it only go to the big packers, who already control too much of the industry, or will it go to the primary producers where it can do the most good?
In the budget, there is, in fact, credit availability and more money made to the Business Development Bank of Canada and Export Development Canada, which is a good thing. What about the Farm Credit Corporation? Farm Credit is more difficult to deal with than the lending institutions. There does not seem to be any increased money to that agency, nor a lessening of the credit conditions that would allow farmers to stay on the land.
Those points are very important, as they apply to the farm community. Much more needs to be done. In fact, I had a call today from a constituent in the minister's riding who was very concerned about the lack of response from the Minister of Agriculture on the beef and hog crisis in our country. It has been in disarray for two years and all the government seems to do is extend loans. We cannot borrow ourselves out of debt. We need some real actions that will put us on a comparable footing with our competitors in the United States.
The government's record is terrible and its word is often broken. This party, through our amendment, will hold it to account.