Dick Harris

[Code Of Ethics, April 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

I understand that my speaking position on this motion actually closes the debate. Are there no other members to speak?

[Code Of Ethics, April 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has continually defended questionable actions of various members of his cabinet by saying that the ethics counsellor, Harold Wilson, judged that they were okay since they fall within the code of ethics.

Unfortunately, the Prime Minister steadfastly refuses to disclose what the rules of this much vaunted code of ethics really are.

One of the many Liberal red book promises not kept by this government was to appoint an ethics counsellor who would report directly to Parliament; that is a counsellor to oversee the actions of the ministers.

I urge the Prime Minister to at least make good on this one promise and, at a minimum, to reveal to the House and the Canadian people his highly secretive ministers' code of ethics.

[Budget Implementation Act, 1999, April 12th, 1999]

The truth hurts. I can hear them squealing over there. The truth really hurts.

According to the latest figures, personal savings per taxpayer are down by $3,700 since 1993. That is a 99% decrease in personal savings for Canadians because of the Liberal government and its tax crazy finance minister.

According to the latest figures, take home pay has dropped $2,100 for every taxpayer. Since 1993 disposable household income for hardworking Canadian families has dropped by over $4,200.

That is what this Liberal government wants Canadians to feel good about.

In the Liberal spin story on health care the Liberals claim they will invest $1.4 billion over three years for federal health care initiatives. They claim they will invest $11.5 billion over the next five years in payments to the provinces in CHST transfers. That is the Liberal story.

Here is the real story. The Liberals have cut $21.4 billion out of health and social spending since 1993. They have cut $21.4 billion and they are going to give back $11.5 billion over the next five years. There has been a 31% drop in taxpayer health and social spending by the federal government. The Liberals have cut health and social spending by 34% per taxpayer since 1993.

Here is another one the Liberals will not tell us about. There is 188,000 Canadians on waiting lists for serious operations and health care services. Waiting times for Canadians to see a health specialist are up 38% since 1993. Waiting times from a GP referral to a specialist to treatment are up 28%. Should I mention the hep C victims, those the Liberal government simply excluded at the stroke of a pen?

Is this the real story? Yes, it is. It is not the story the Liberal spin doctors would like Canadians to believe.

Liberals claim they expect to retire $20 billion in market debt this year. That is the Liberal story. Here are the facts. This country's net debt is still a staggering $580 billion, or $18,800 for every single Canadian. Every time a baby is born in this country, he or she automatically owes $18,800.

Why have we seen our health care cut? Why have we seen these high taxes? Because the previous Liberal governments since 1965 or so and the short term Tory government of Brian Mulroney have run up such a debt to the extent that every single year the government has to pay out $42.5 billion in interest payments on that debt.

What could we do with that kind of money, $42.5 billion? We could probably fund the entire health care system for about three years. We could probably pay the tuition fees for every student in post-secondary education in Canada today for their entire education period.

The spin doctors and the Liberals have been busy, but Canadians simply are not buying that story.

Here is another one. Using their 1998-99 base of spending of $104.5 billion, the Liberals say they will increase spending by $7.6 billion this year alone. Sorry, the Liberals did not tell Canadians that. I would like to tell them once again. The Liberals will increase spending by $7.6 billion.

This is the government that said it was important to get spending under control. Every year since 1993 the government has increased spending and over the last year by over $7.5 billion in increased spending, or $23 billion over the next three years.

This is a government that told Canadians it was crucial to get spending under control, yet it has increased spending. At the same time it has increased taxes since 1993. We know the tax increases this government has brought in, over $2,000 per working Canadian since 1993.

Let me say those numbers again. Disposable income for the average Canadian family household has dropped over $4,400 since 1993. That is because of the Liberal government's fiscal policies which simply do not work.

We cannot get our financial house in order unless we stop spending the money, and spending the money in some very foolish ways I might add. Instead of spending it on health care, the Liberals are content to spend a couple of billion dollars on a millennium monument to the prime minister. I could go on. The member for St. Albert who does the waste report knows all about Liberal spending.

Let us look at this one. The Liberals claim they are investing $1.8 billion in research and development over the next four years. The fact is we want our brightest and our best to stay in this country. The best thing they can do for research and development is to give Canadians tax breaks so the brightest and the best do not go south of the line where they have a much more enjoyable tax regime.

The Liberals claim they are investing $400 million to address compensation and benefits issues in the Department of National Defence. They are going to spend $400 million. Here is the real story. Since 1993, the Liberals have cut $7 billion out of funding for our armed forces. They have continuously been asking our troops to do more with less. They are going to give them back $400 million, but they have taken away $7 billion since 1993.

This budget is not what the Liberals would like Canadians to believe it is.

[Budget Implementation Act, 1999, April 12th, 1999]

Madam Speaker, we have been listening to the Liberal spin on the budget since February. The fact is there are two stories. There is the story the Liberals would like Canadians to believe. Their spin doctors are trying to convince Canadians that they should feel good about the February budget. And there is the real story, and the facts that back up the real story. I will go through a few of the spin stories of the Liberals and then the other story and the facts.

The Liberals claim they are giving Canadians $1.5 billion in tax relief this year, $2.8 billion next year and $3.4 billion by 2001-02 for a total of about $7.7 billion. That is their story. The fact is that Canadians today are paying $2,000 more in taxes than they did in 1993. The average Canadian is paying $2,020 more in taxes than he or she did in 1993.

At the same time Canadians are getting less health care. Since coming to power, the Liberals have cut $1,500 per taxpayer out of health care transfers, $1,500 out of health care transfers for every single Canadian. Since the Liberals took power, federal taxes per taxpayer are up by 24%. That is the $2,000.

[Budget Implementation Act, 1999, April 12th, 1999]

Madam Speaker, to echo the words of my colleague from Calgary, the Liberal government since 1993 has stood in the House and told us how important the child care tax credit is to it and how it places this as a high priority. The finance minister stands up and crows about his so-called balanced budget and the surplus and the very people the Liberal government has supposedly placed such a priority on, the children of this country who are living in homes where money is of greatest need, yet there is not one red cent in a child tax credit. That could almost be called somewhat hypocritical. The government says it is a high priority yet it fails to act.

I wanted to make that comment so that the member opposite is clear on what his finance minister has done. Perhaps he did not know that it was not in the budget. It is very important and the finance minister, despite his balanced budget and the so-called surplus, has failed to address it.

[Budget Implementation Act, 1999, April 12th, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I appreciate the hon. House leader's point; however, we in the Reform Party would wish to be consulted just a bit more on this motion before we give concurrence.

[Budget Implementation Act, 1999, April 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about tax cuts. The member for Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar is a little off track when he talks about who should get tax cuts. It is middle income working Canadians who have continuously borne the brunt of the tax burden. They pay far higher personal income taxes than those in any of the G-7 countries. We pay the highest.

Although there is ample evidence, the member does not recognize that there is a direct correlation between a buoyant economy and a liveable tax regime. We do not have that in this country. The governments of Alberta and Ontario have taken some bold steps to lower the personal income tax levels of provincial workers. Those are the two leading economies in the entire country. Despite the tax cuts, their overall revenues have dramatically increased because their economies were given that stimulant.

In order to make this country attractive for investors, in order to restore consumer confidence and in order to give Canadian families a break in this country, in particular middle income families, this government has to recognize that it has an obligation. Considering that it has raised taxes to the tune of $39 billion or $40 billion since 1993, considering that the average Canadian worker's net income has decreased about $2,100, considering that the average family's disposable income in this country has decreased by $4,500 since this tax-mad Liberal government took over, I think the member would agree that this government is morally obligated to give Canadians a break in the income taxes they are paying. That is what will get the economy going again and that is what will provide money for social programs.

[Division No. 363, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, on this issue it is very difficult to show temperance but I will try. I will withdraw that. What did I just withdraw?

I say this for the benefit of the Canadian people. The government killed Bill C-251, a bill that would keep in jail violent criminals, criminals who commit the most heinous and serious crimes, a bill that would end the volume discounts where, if a person commits three murders, they would only serve time for one and if a person rapes three or four or five women, they would only serve time for one. That is the way the law is now. This would have changed it. This would have provided for consecutive sentencing.

This government clearly displayed yesterday that it supports violent criminals being treated in the most lenient manner possible. That is the message it sent out yesterday. That is the message this government sent out yesterday when it destroyed Bill C-251.

I sat there in utter amazement as I watched this bill destroyed in under five seconds. All the efforts of the member for Mississauga East in putting this bill forward, the turncoating of the Liberal members who supported her bill in second reading, now cast aside as if it were some worthless piece of paper.

I think the Liberals showed no support for law enforcement officers. They have clearly demonstrated in everything they have done in justice terms that they do not support police forces in this country. They do not support law-abiding citizens. Who are they supporting? They appear to be supporting and have given credibility to the thought that the people they support are the people who commit crimes.

[Division No. 363, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, of course I will withdraw. What I said was in passion. What I should have said is that what the Liberal members did in committee could be described as nothing less than a criminal act. It was so vile and so disgusting that it could be accurately called an immoral act or an obscene act of power hungry dictators in the government having their orders carried out by their minions who show up for these committee meetings attempting to give some impression that they are actually interested in what is going on. They are attempting to give some impression that they actually care about business in committee.

The killing of this bill by the Liberals yesterday also had another effect. It had a profound effect on the ability of law-abiding Canadians to have a sense of security about the safety of their families.

This bill, had it passed, would have kept murderers and rapists and others who commit heinous violent crimes of that nature in jail. It would have ended the volume discounts for murderers, rapists and other violent criminals the Liberals government supports.

This act yesterday was a clear example of the Liberal government's supporting the most lenient treatment possible for violent criminals. That is what it did yesterday. It supported the most lenient treatment possible under the Criminal Code. That is what the Liberal government is all about. That is what it supports.

It is disgusting. How can any law-abiding Canadian citizen have any sense of security about the safety of their family when this worthless government does not have the guts, does not have the intestinal—

[Division No. 363, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, let me name the ridings of the Liberal members who attended as well and who laughed and joked when that bill was destroyed in five seconds.

Apart from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, the member for Winnipeg South also thought it was a big joke. The member for Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford thought it was a big joke. The member for Simcoe North thought it was a big joke. The member for Oshawa thought it was a big joke. The member for Brossard—La Prairie thought it was a big joke. The member for Scarborough East thought it was a big joke. They all thought it was a big joke to destroy the private member's bill of the member for Mississauga East.

The Liberals voted overwhelmingly in favour of second reading and to go to committee. Did they mean it? Of course not. They did not want this bill. They wanted it to get to committee so that the government orders could be followed to destroy this bill in under five seconds in committee.

We have seen some disgusting things out of this government since 1993 and this one rates right near the top. Not only was this bill, which had a tremendous amount of merit and a tremendous amount of benefit to the public safety of this country, destroyed by this government, by the sheep that follow the orders of the whip, the House leader or the Minister of Justice, but this act has destroyed what little confidence the Canadian people might have in the effectiveness of private members' bills.

What happened yesterday sent a clear message out to every member of parliament, who represent millions of Canadians across the country, that if one puts a private member's bill forward, no matter what happens in the House in first and second reading, no matter if there is overwhelming consent or not, if it gets to committee and someone on the government benches, the cabinet, does not want this bill, it is destroyed. Is that democracy?

Is there any semblance of democracy in that process? The answer is no. This malicious, disgusting act by the Liberal government has destroyed whatever confidence Canadians had in the ability of their elected members to present a private member's bill in the House and have any chance of it going through if some member of the government benches does not want it. That is a crime in itself. That was a criminal act yesterday.

What the Liberal members did yesterday, following the orders from their dictator, whoever he or she was, was nothing less than a criminal act.