Deborah Grey

[Goods And Services Tax, February 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the question was about the GST and the finance minister just forgot to answer it. I will remind him one more time that yesterday he said “all Tory taxes are odious”. That is what he said. I think Canadians probably would agree with him and so he probably would want to make some changes in that.

It was about the GST. I will ask him one more time, not to go on the rant but to clarify his position on the GST. If he thinks Tory taxes are so odious, why did he break his promise and not scrap the Tory-Liberal GST?

[Goods And Services Tax, February 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that yesterday the finance minister said “all Tory taxes are odious”. For once I agree with the Liberal finance minister. Tory income taxes are odious. Tory surtaxes are odious. Tory bracket creep is odious, that is, repulsive, repugnant, disgusting, disreputable, despicable and detestable.

Let me ask the finance minister one straight question. Does this finance minister think then that this torrible, terrible, terri—whatever it is—GST is odious too?

[Points Of Order, February 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, during Statements by Members today my colleague from Wild Rose said that he had spent the last four years touring around the country visiting prisons and then went on to make some comments about the prisons.

At that moment the member for Brampton West—Mississauga blurted out from her place “eating your way around the—” and then covered her mouth, realizing what she had said.

With regard to these vicious personal attacks, which are unnecessary, could she stand up and withdraw the comment?

[The Budget, February 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister talks about paying down market debt. That is like bragging because I have paid off my Visa with my MasterCard.

Last year Canadians paid $161 billion in taxes, including the huge CPP tax hikes. This year we will pay $167 billion. By the turn of the century, in the year 2000, it will be going up to $173 billion: $161 billion, $167 billion, $173 billion. It is going up, up and away.

Just how is it that the Prime Minister can explain this is spelled tax relief?

[The Budget, February 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have taken out the taxpayers' chequebook again. Just when we thought that taxpayers had some rights, just when we thought that the Prime Minister would do the responsible thing and start paying down the debt, he popped the cork on the spending champagne, and that is wrong. The tiny token tax cut was more than swallowed up by the CPP increases that they instituted at the beginning of this year.

We had a surplus yesterday. Just how is it that that surplus got sucked up so soon?

[Prisons, February 25th, 1998]

That is not even cute.

[The Economy, February 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised to split the surplus 50:50 between spending and debt and tax relief. He knows it and the Canadian public knows it. Taxpayers are owed that surplus now but they are not going to get it. The Prime Minister says “I am really sorry. Not this year”.

Why is it that the Prime Minister stands in his place, shrugs, smirks and sings “somewhere over the mandate?” When is it going to be?

[The Economy, February 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the only people smiling today are the well trained backbenchers in the Liberal government. That is because the surplus was given to them alone. What was supposed to be a surplus for all Canadians, a surplus for weary taxpayers, has turned into a surplus for big spenders only.

Why did the government break its red book promise again and donate a huge wad of this surplus to new spending other than debt and tax relief?

[The Economy, February 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, they should have kept a balanced budget 30 years ago. Then we would not have got in this mess of $600 billion.

When something happens to $3 million, when it gets stolen from a bank vault it is called robbery and good citizens are supposed to dial 911. But what do you do and who do you call when $3 billion gets snookered out of the government vault thanks to the Prime Minister and his cabinet? We had a multibillion dollar surplus this year but it has already been spent even the day before the budget. Why is the Prime Minister treating the taxpayers' surplus as his own personal cash to do with as he pleases?

[The Economy, February 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, they talk about the finance minister's dream. There they are dreaming.

On February 11 the finance minister confirmed that for the first eight months Canada had a financial surplus of $11.3 billion and a public account surplus of $1.4 billion. That was not even two weeks ago, yet now the cupboard is bare. The surplus has been blown on new spending programs.

Why did the Liberals have to blow this year's surplus on spending when they promised half of every single billion dollars would go to debt and tax relief?