Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Peace River.
I rise on behalf of the people of Okanagan-Similkameen-Merritt to respond to the annual budget proposed by the Liberal government. My constituents and I are very pleased and anxious to reply to what we have heard.
The people in my area of the country want to hear something that would be of some use to them, for example, paying the mortgage on their homes, keeping them gainfully employed, contributing to their RRSPs, among other things. In fact, the people at our town hall meetings in Grand Forks, Merritt, Oliver and Penticton cited unemployment, crime and taxes as their major concerns.
I can hardly express the eagerness that the people of Okanagan-Similkameen-Merritt feel in terms of their willingness to work toward getting the nation's financial house in order. In the smaller communities in my riding the people know that their financial security and that of their families can be realized in a healthy, prosperous national economy.
The people who write to me or speak to me at town hall meetings and other events throughout the riding express a high measure of confidence in our ability to eliminate the federal government's annual budgetary deficit. This would create jobs for Canadians.
A recent poll indicates that some Canadians feel that deficit elimination measures would increase unemployment levels. Nothing could be further from the truth. Interest rates would fall. More economic opportunities would result for small business. More job opportunities would be created. Tax relief would become a reality.
The people in my riding have made it very clear that they support the Reform Party's plan to give economic stability and tax relief to Canadians. In turn, Canadians would be able to confidently plan their futures.
Canadians want to be able to buy a new car or house or plan a vacation or contribute to their retirement funds. Too many Canadians are in the position of just making ends meet or trying to pay off what seems to be the never ending credit card balance.
The Liberal Party of Canada should listen to this voice of confidence that is coming so loud and clear from western Canada.
My constituents and I are concerned that Liberals are afraid to eliminate the deficit. Reform members, following what we have been told by Canadians, are prepared to eliminate the deficit. We know that the federal government must abandon the old tax and spend types budgets. We know that governments should make it possible for the private sector to create jobs.
Canadians know that successive Liberal and Conservative governments over the past few decades have failed in this regard. They have failed to create jobs. It has been shown clearly that job creation must come from a healthy private sector.
My constituents and I know that the Liberals have different ideas. The government's annual budget is supposed to flow from the people to the government. The Reform Party continually tries to drive home to the Liberals what Canadians are saying. The people in my area of Okanagan-Similkameen-Merritt have been specific when they speak of what should be the economic agenda for our nation.
During the extended recess in this place for most of the winter months, when the Liberals decided there was no work to do probably because it was too cold, I met with many of the constituents from Okanagan in British Columbia. In fact, while the Liberals were sitting close to their wood stoves getting warm I managed to hold town hall meetings in my riding.
The people told me that they are concerned about personal security. What they are talking about is first, good jobs; second, higher incomes resulting in lower taxes; third, safer streets; fourth, social security programs they can count on including health, education, pensions; fifth, political stability.
Following the unveiling of the Liberal Party's budget we now have some measure of the great distance from these priorities the Liberals have placed themselves and the federal government. The list of priorities I have just read is far removed from the priorities the Liberals have established for the government to pursue.
In the city of Penticton in my riding during the month of January 1996, $4.48 million was paid out in unemployment insurance. In 1995 about $34 million was paid out in UI; in 1994 $43 million; in 1993, $45 million was paid out in UI.
The Liberals are very proud of this type of reduction in UI payments. They try to cite their election platform of jobs, jobs, jobs, their infamous infrastructure program and their deficit reduction measures as being responsible for the drop in UI payments in my riding.
The other side of the coin is the increase in the number of social assistance recipients in the same area in my riding. The provincial government has changed the criteria for receiving social assistance and the federal government has tightened the qualifications for receiving UI payments. The figures I received from my constituency, which are a matter of public record, show clearly that the people who were formerly unemployed are now receiving social assistance. The apparent drop in UI payments is not an increase in the employment level at all.
In addition to what I have just said, there is a large opportunity to create jobs in the Okanagan valley. This is true of our nation as a whole. Deficit reduction will lead to higher employment levels and in the smaller communities such as in my riding in places like Princeton, Merritt, Okanagan Falls and Grand Forks.
Deficit reduction will lead to higher investment. International investors will have confidence investing in the economy once our financial house is in order. Canadians will determine that investment at home is more attractive than investing abroad. The private sector will be able to expand along with higher investment levels. The private sector will be able to create long term, high quality, sustainable jobs. That is what we need in this country.
For example, people speak to me about making contributions to their RRSPs. They note that only 20 per cent of their investment
can be placed in foreign investments. In the majority of cases, Canadians feel that foreign investments are most attractive. This situation should be reversed. Canadians should be expecting to get equal or better results, a better return on their money, by investing at home.
What is worse is that affluent Canadians with a great deal of money to invest are investing in offshore ventures in order to escape the taxes they would be required to pay if they chose to invest in Canada. An example of that is the Liberal finance minister, a classic case of a Canadian evading taxes by registering his company's vessels offshore.
Canadian Press reports the Liberal minister's steamship company, held in blind trust, has six ships registered in tax free havens. One of these ships was built in 1982 with the help of a 9 per cent federal government subsidy. The president of the B.C. Federation of Labour says that this is "precisely what is wrong with the tax system. If the people started paying the taxes already in place, we would not have a deficit problem".
The Liberal finance minister, by registering his ships offshore, escapes paying Canadian taxes-
