Rick Borotsik

[Agriculture, March 13th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, spring is just around the corner and right now many farmers are trying to find cash to put the crop in. Many of them are not being very successful.

The AIDA program has been like a mirage to a dying person. Right now, today, only $500 million of that money has been distributed and put into farmers' pockets.

Will the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food stand today and admit that he has failed Canadian farmers for the 2000 crop year?

[Cfb Shilo, March 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with great pride to congratulate and recognize one of the finest military training facilities and some of the finest military personnel that we have anywhere in North America.

Over 150 soldiers from CFB Shilo embarked on a six month tour of Bosnia yesterday. Most of the troops on tour are from the 1st Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery along with soldiers from other sections and branches of CFB Shilo.

This marks the largest deployment out of CFB Shilo since 1992 when troops departed for Cyprus. It also marks the historic occasion of the first operational use of Canadian artillery since the Korean war. Our troops will be replacing a British light artillery unit in Bosnia. The first rotation of troops left yesterday and will be followed by a second rotation in April.

I would like to extend my congratulations to all the soldiers at CFB Shilo and wish them a safe return in October.

[Supply, March 2nd, 2000]

Madam Speaker, the hon. member talked about how the other provincial governments and leaders dealt with the budget just tabled in the House and with the inadequate amount of dollars that flowed from that budget to the health care system. Could the hon. member just expand on that a little bit more?

I am now told that the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance have said in some news reports that, eureka, there may well be some more dollars available that they will put into health care if and when the health ministers sit down with them and talk about the system and how they will put those into place.

Does the hon. member have an awful lot of confidence in the co-operative federalism that has been demonstrated by the government previously and on other issues more so than health care? Does he believe that the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Health will negotiate in good faith? If they were, then why were those dollars not mentioned prior to the budget being formulated? All of a sudden they are backtracking a bit and saying “Of course, there is more money there if in fact we can negotiate the way that should be distributed”. Would the hon. member please like to expand on that topic just a bit?

[The Budget, February 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. gentleman giving credit where credit is due to the Progressive Conservative Party in trying to balance the budget. It was Mr. Trudeau, if we go back in time, who took the deficit from $18 billion to $200 billion. That is quite a multiple. Certainly, as I said, there was a blueprint that was put into place.

Let us talk about the CHST. In the government's own documents that have been tabled, the CHST for 1999-2000 is $29.4 billion. It will rise to $32.7 billion with the increase from a previous budget of $2 billion and $2.5 billion a year in 2001 and 2002, and the $500 million in previous years.

The health care system still will have less money in it in the year 2004 than it had previously. It does not matter which numbers we look at when we take into consideration the inflationary factors as well as the aged in our communities.

Does the hon. member not recognize that we have an aging population that will put more demands on the health care system? The government says constantly that money is not the necessary answer to the health care system. Possibly, but money is needed because there are more people accessing the system. If only the government could understand that perhaps its priorities could be put into the right area as opposed to the wrong areas.

I will have an opportunity to sit on that side in the not too distant future. The member for Chatham—Kent—Essex talked about the telephone booth and the two members. In 1984 the Liberals had 40 seats. History does repeat itself.

[The Budget, February 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, it is with a great deal of pleasure that I stand to speak to the budget that has been placed before us. I would certainly like to respond to some of the comments made by the member for Chatham—Kent Essex.

We do not necessarily have to debate this budget. Over the last four months pretty much everything that was in the budget tabled yesterday had already been tabled to the Canadian public in the newspapers and by other leaks that happened in the finance minister's department. Actually there was only one thing that was mentioned yesterday that we did not already know. I am told that a lot of the newspapers had already written their stories before the Minister of Finance tabled his budget in the House. It is rather interesting and rather strange that the finance minister cannot keep the secrets that his ministry would normally keep. In saying that, some things have dribbled out over the last little while with respect to the budget.

May I make a comment to the member for Chatham—Kent Essex. I will try to be rational. Unlike the member for Chatham—Kent Essex, I will try to stop the hyperbole and certainly the rhetoric and deal with this rationally.

Prior to this, the government continued to say that there was this huge deficit and it had to come in here and be the saviours for all Canadians. I hope the member does not hurt himself by patting himself on the back so much, but I would like to put on the record the reason the budget is now balanced and why the Liberal government can take credit for it.

From 1989 to 1992 this country suffered through the worst recession it has ever suffered through. Timing is everything. The government then in power did its best and it put forward the blueprint of which this government is now taking advantage to balance its budgets. The blueprint was a control of inflation that had been taken out of the realm of possibility by the previous Liberal government. We controlled inflation. We put an interest rate policy in place which was necessary. We put the GST in place which, if memory serves me correctly, was to be scrapped before this budget but it is still there. It was put in place so that the dollars generated could retire the deficit and it did.

By the way, the other thing that was put in place and which took us out of a horrendous recession and brought us into the economy of North America was the North American Free Trade Agreement. The government, even when it took power in 1993, was going to scrap that agreement as well. That is the backbone of our economy.

So the Liberals should take much solace in the fact that they are in government today and balancing the budgets because of the government that went before them.

Let us talk about the budget. I would like very rationally to tell Canadians not to rush out and spend the horrendous savings they will have on taxes. Do not to spend it now because they are not there today. Let us talk about the tax cuts. First of all, give credit where credit is due. In this budget, the only thing the finance minister did that was not leaked was to stop bracket creep. Good for him. Thank you, finance minister. I do appreciate very much on behalf of Canadians that he went to that length.

Let us talk about the taxes that will be seen by Canadians at the present time. Please Canada, listen very carefully. In 2000-01 Canadians will take advantage of some $4.6 billion of tax relief. This does not take into consideration the increase in the CPP requirements the government has put in place. The total tax relief that is shown here is not what will be in the pay packets of Canadians. Do not rush out, Mr. and Mrs. Canada, and spend that money just yet because it is not quite there.

Canada has to wait effectively until 2004-05 to take advantage of a full $22 billion of tax relief. That is five years. It is not today. When we hear about $58 billion of tax savings, take it with a grain of salt Canada because it is not here today.

By the way, I can live with the taxation the government has been putting in place, or the tax relief. What I cannot live with is the health care situation that it has caused in the first place and is now not prepared to fix for Canadians. Please Canada listen.

There will be $2.5 billion put into health care. Remember that. What we do not know is that it is over five years. In the 2000-01 fiscal year there will be $1 billion one time only and then half a billion dollars a year for the next four years. When Canadians hear $2.5 billion is going to health care, please listen to how it is being distributed because it still is not at the same level it was in 1993 when the government took office.

Our health care system depends on two major factors. One is the inflationary factor and the other is the aging population coming into the system. The dollars presented in this budget do not take those into consideration. No, the Liberals are not doing a wonderful job nor are they doing us any favours on health care.

Let us talk about a couple of other areas where the government continues to pat itself on the back. Let us talk about defence quickly and then agriculture.

On defence, a white paper that came from this government said that there was a requirement for $750 million just to implement the quality of life for our military. There is $5 billion necessary for capital expenditures and equipment such as the Sea Kings. I do not know if the EH-101 ever comes to mind when mentioning defence. Certainly the dollars that have been presented in this budget do not even come close to what is required by the Department of National Defence.

In agriculture the same is true. There was one line in this budget and by the way, that one line in the budget had been announced previously. It is interesting that the Prime Minister would announce a day or week previously that a $240 million one time ad hoc payment would go to Manitoba and Saskatchewan in agriculture. What the government did not do was give us the long term vision for the industry. There does not seem to be a long term vision on anything which was presented in this budget on agriculture.

A plank of the Liberal platform in the 1993 election was infrastructure for municipalities. It was dear and close to my heart at that point in time. The member for Saint John was the mayor of her city just before that time. It was a wonderful program, but let me tell Canadians about it. With the infrastructure program we have right now, it does not mean there will be $2.5 billion put into it. In fact this year, 2000-01, it will be $100 million. Next year it will be $350 million and then $500 million from that point on. It is a five year program for $2.5 billion.

Let me say right now that it is not enough. The government takes more than $4 billion a year out of the excise tax on gasoline alone and it will put $100 million into an infrastructure program for next year. It sounds like it will be an election plank. Canadians are not that silly. They understand the games that are being played. They cannot be bought with their own money. They cannot be bribed with their own money.

I like the program, but I am very concerned, because now all of a sudden what are the criteria? We are talking about a green infrastructure program. We are talking about programs for health that will have more benefits to Liberals perhaps, like the present ones at HRDC. I am very concerned as to how those dollars will flow.

Certainly, there are a lot of good things in the budget, but overall unfortunately it falls very short of where it had to be.

[The Budget, February 29th, 2000]

Trudeau started the ball rolling.

[The Budget, February 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I direct my question to the hon. member if he will listen, which he does not usually do. I find it rather interesting that he has taken a great deal of time and energy to put the blame obviously on a previous government. I remember the term Brian Mulroney and the deficit and the rest.

I wonder if the member would like to talk about where deficits really started, where they really came from. If my memory serves me correctly, in 1974 a former prime minister by the name of Pierre Trudeau put this country into a deficit position. Would the hon. member like to finally take some responsibility for the fact that it was his previous government in 1974 that actually started that particular ball rolling?

In my speech I will talk about how it was the Mulroney government and the Wilson government that actually brought us out of that hole and started the process to get his budget balanced.

[Questions On The Order Paper, February 29th, 2000]

What was the total cost of the Canadian Wheat Board's 61 public forum meetings held on Justice Willard Estey's grain handling and transportation review recommendations, including per diem for board members, travel, staff costs, hall rentals and advertising?

[Canadian International Development Agency, February 25th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I request through your good graces that you use your office to facilitate the settlement of a difficulty which is disrupting the work of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

I know that you cannot intervene, Mr. Speaker—

[Agriculture, February 25th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the minister obviously did not admit to his mishandling of it but he should have.

We know we have a grain handling problem right now in transportation. Will he commit to fixing the transportation problem and throwing his full and immediate support behind the implementation of the Kroeger report recommendations?