Mr. Speaker, it is a pity that we are still having this debate under a time allocation motion. Once again, we have an omnibus bill. We have heard this tune before, it seems to me. It is still the same old story: time allocation motions and omnibus bills are imposed on us.
I do not know how this is seen elsewhere, but in my riding, my constituents are fed up with this way of doing things. I cannot condemn it strongly enough.
Let us go back to the budget itself. What is a budget for a government? As we know, one of Parliament's main functions is to vote on a budget. A budget sets specific directions for a country.
However, I am beginning to question that. What do we have in this budget? Do we have a vision for the future, structural projects, or something to get us excited about the future? No. Does it offer any hope to the unemployed, whose number has increased by more than 300,000 since 2008? No. Does it offer any hope for investments in social housing? No. Does it offer any hope of reducing inequalities between Canadians? The answer is no, seeing that Canada's Gini coefficient is increasing. Are we going to reduce tax evasion? Once again, the answer is no. Is this government working to improve Canada's brand image abroad? Not at all.
For example, the next Universal Exposition will be held from May 1 to October 31, 2015, in Milan. Italy invited all United Nations member states to attend, and 144 have confirmed their presence. Did Canada say it would be there?