Mr. Speaker, yesterday's budget was beached before it arrived, like the S. S. Minnow's three-hour tour or an oil spill ship headed to a Conservative photo op. For the Conservatives, it is full steam ahead on cuts to pensions, health care and EI.
On top of their self-congratulatory speech full of unrealistic predictions, Conservatives have even introduced new taxes. That is right: tax hikes. In black and white, on page 331 of the budget, there are new taxes on safety deposit boxes, new taxes on credit unions and even new taxes on hospital parking fees.
How does charging people more when they visit a hospital help Canadians? No wonder the Minister of Finance slipped on his new pair of shoes and ran away from the budget as soon as he could.
New Democrats are united against these reckless cuts and will continue to hold Conservatives to account for their mismanagement and deceit.
Gilligan was funny. The government's economic failure is not.