Monte Solberg

[Liberal Party Of Canada, April 25th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, when you open up the brochure one of the first things it says is: "Why support the Liberal Party of Canada?" Why indeed after 37 tax increases and after broken promises on things like the CBC, day care and a number of other issues? The GST promise has to be the biggest whopper of all.

It is very clear the Liberal record is in complete disarray, that the Liberal record is in flames. Why would people of right mind support the same hucksters who sold them off last time, ran away with their wallets and dashed their hopes in 1993?

[Liberal Party Of Canada, April 25th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal pre-election brochure is kind of like a bad smell. I got in the mail yesterday. I threw it away and there it was again in the newspaper this morning. It is kind of like something I stepped in and I just cannot shake off my shoe.

The first thing-

[Liberal Party, April 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the Reform Party is the only party that has a plan to save the Canada pension plan.

The chairman of the committee on the government side who comes from Winnipeg said that in 15 years the Canada pension plan will be in trouble because of the government's initiative. Is it any wonder when Liberal MPs secured their own MP pension that they are not concerned about Canadians' pensions?

The government cannot run away from its record. Look at the GST promise, the day care promise, the NAFTA promise. There have been 37 tax increases. The country has the worst jobless record since the great depression. Look at Somalia, Airbus, the Krever and the Pearson scandals.

After that pathetic record of incompetence and duplicity why should Canadians trust the government for another four years?

[Liberal Party, April 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, by the government's own account, over a million children live in poverty in this country. There is no national day care program after the government promised it.

I am looking through the Liberal list of achievements page to see where it says that the Liberals fulfilled their promise on the GST, but it is strangely absent. I am looking for the section on national unity, but I cannot find it. Could that be because the government came within 50,000 votes of losing the country?

What about health care? It speaks about $300 million in a new health care initiative, but it does not mention, for some reason, that it has cut $7.5 billion.

Is the government planning to hoodwink Canadians once again, just like it did in 1993, or is my brochure missing some pages?

[Liberal Party, April 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, don't you just hate getting junk mail? I got some this morning from the Liberals. Although they would not answer our questions yesterday I think they are trying to give us some hints about what they are planning for the upcoming election.

For example, on the cover of their pre-election brochure they feature six young children. I wonder if this means the government plans to reannounce its national day care program, the one it promised it would bring about last time but failed to deliver. Maybe these kids are some of the hundreds of thousands from families that have been driven from the middle to the low income bracket because of this government. Maybe they are supposed to represent the $20,000 per head of debt that men, women and children bear because of Liberal-Tory overspending.

Which one of these policies is the government planning to run on? Which policy will the Liberals bring before the Canadian people in the upcoming election?

[Petitions, April 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is on behalf of Canadians across the country.

The petitioners pray that Parliament will enact legislation to wind down the CPP while protecting the pensions of current seniors, and that Canadians contribute to mandatory RRSPs of their own choosing.

[Petitions, April 24th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have two petitions to present on behalf of people from my riding of Medicine Hat.

The petitioners pray that Parliament will enact legislation to establish a pedophile registry.

[Liberal Government, April 23rd, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, apparently there is still a little gas in the tank over there.

If we add in all the people who have dropped out of the job force over the last couple of years, the real unemployment rate in Canada is over 12 per cent, more than double the American rate.

If it is not the Liberal's jobs record, maybe the minister wants to run on their tax record or on their bankruptcy record. How about the $3,000 drop in disposable income Canadian families have suffered since this government came to power and the 37 tax increases? What about the record levels of bankruptcy, a record in 1995, 1996 and 1997?

Which one of these is the minister planning to run on, or do the Liberals plan to run on empty just like they have done for the last 3.5 years?

[Liberal Government, April 23rd, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the pork has all been divvied up now. The tires are being checked. The beer is on ice right now and it looks like the Liberal campaign plane is all but ready to take off, except for one small problem. The fuel tank reads empty.

Canadians are still wondering what this government intends to run on. Maybe it is its job record: 1.4 million Canadians unemployed; 800,000 Canadians moonlighting; 78 months in a row of unemployment over 9 per cent; the worst jobs record since the Great Depression.

Since the Liberal jobs, jobs, jobs record is in the tank, can the Prime Minister tell Canadians if this is the record his government plans to run on?

[Government Spending, April 22nd, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, after the minister was booed so loudly while giving a speech recently in his part of the country, I do not think things look so hot for him either.

The Prime Minister says he is against broad based tax relief. I guess that becomes very obvious after he has gone out and spent just about $7 billion in the last little while. The fact is that if he had taken that $7 billion and given it back to Canadians in the form of tax relief, we would have had about 200,000 jobs created in this country.

Can the Prime Minister tell us why he thinks buying votes with borrowed money is more important than real job creation through tax relief?