Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise to take part in this budget debate. I have been here for almost seven years. It almost appears that every time we have a budget debate, the same debate occurs. We have talked about all these things, about the government's intent for what it wants to do, but the record paints a different picture.
We know that at this point this is really a pre-election debate. This is basically about the government telling the people of this country that it is going to give them back some of their money, not that the Liberal government will be honest and say it is their money, that it does not really belong to the government, that it is the people's money.
However, as members know, we play the same games over and over and unfortunately too many people have forgotten that when they pay taxes the money comes out of their pockets. Canada is one of the most highly taxed nations in the world. We pay an awful lot of taxes. Even members of Parliament do. My colleague and I were just talking about the amount of money from our monthly cheque that actually goes back to the government. In essence we could be paid $1 million and 60% or probably two-thirds of it would come back to this place. So it is not about how much money we earn in this country; it is about the level of taxation.
On that basis, this country is filthy rich when it comes to tax dollars. I believe our current budget runs at $185 billion to $190 billion. That is an awful lot of money. In fact, when I first came here I had a hard time understanding a billion dollars, but after being here all this time, it is sad in a way when members think, “Well, what is a billion?” Certainly on the government side they say, “What is a billion here and there?” That seems to be the irresponsible way in which the government has operated.
There are some things the government has done, but why has it taken so long? For example, a good thing is the GST rebate to municipalities, but why did it take so long? The FCM and the municipalities have been asking for tax rebates for over a decade. In fact, as we know, a GST rebate is really double taxation for the poor taxpayer at home, because they are paying tax on tax. The taxes that are paid come from taxes that citizens and homeowners pay to local governments and, in turn, those tax dollars are paid to the federal government. It just does not make any sense.
It still is a good move, though, that finally the federal government has realized it is wrong to double-tax people. Municipal governments are no different from this government. They are both there to serve the people at home.
One bigger contention is still “tax in lieu of”. The federal government does not pay its fair share when it comes to property tax. That has been a contentious issue for many years. Maybe it is high time for the government to pay its fair share of taxes on federal buildings on municipal lands across this country from coast to coast. The government owns thousands of buildings spread across this country. It does not pay its fair share. The government pays very little tax. That is why it is called a tax in lieu of. That means in lieu of paying the real tax, the right amount that municipal and provincial governments need. Again the government is shortchanging the poor taxpayer at home.
Past budgets really have not dealt with defending the rights of Canadians, and this government's accountability has been very poor when it comes to that, certainly in regard to Canadian industries like softwood lumber. We have been sitting here for years talking about the same issues and asking the same questions about what the government is doing about the softwood lumber problem or the farming problem and the safety net programs. Since the Liberal government has been in power, the dollars going to help farmers have been reduced substantially over the last 10 years.
In fact, one area that has been complained about constantly when it comes to budgets is the military. We can actually take that right back to the years when Prime Minister Trudeau was in power. In those days, the Liberals basically wanted to get rid of the Canadian military altogether. That still seems to be the government's focus even though we realize the important role that our military plays despite its restrictions, its size and its lack of equipment.
Canadians expect this country to be protected and Canadians are proud of their military and their peacekeeping, but Canadians also want this government to fund the military properly and make sure the military has the equipment. When our troops are in wartorn countries, Canadians expect them to be protected. We expect our troops to come home in one piece.
In fact, if it were not for the frigates that the Mulroney government had built back in the 1980s, today we probably would not have much of a navy at all. The reason I bring this up is that in today's paper there is an article about how Canada should be looking at an aircraft carrier to make sure that we can transport our troops around the world.
As members know, today we do not have that capacity. We have to rely on other countries to deliver our troops and equipment, so even when we want to help out, we cannot get there. That is rather pathetic, especially for a country well known in the world for the job it does in preserving peace around the world.
On the subject of health care, the Liberal government always forgets that it was the Liberals who took $24 billion out of the health care system. The question I raise is, why would the Liberals take the money from health? Only because we spend a lot of money on health in this country. Certainly the Liberals did not realize the impact it would have on Canadians. We know that today health is still the number one issue for Canadians across this country.
Yes, the Liberals balanced a $42 billion deficit, but on the backs of the taxpayers and on the backs of the sick. Only recently has the government put that money back into the system. Unfortunately, it has not kept up with inflation, increased costs and increased stresses on the health care system as we find it today. We just have to ask the provinces. They will tell us. The provinces have told the government many times about the budgetary inflation and the cost to their provincial budgets of just their increased spending in health.
We have heard again about the gas tax. We have been talking about the gas tax for decades, and also about infrastructure. When I first came here I sat on the transport committee. Back in 1997, a study was done on how bad the roads were. The study was done in cooperation and consultation with the provincial ministers of transportation. They put together a study and an agreement with the federal government. They all agreed that the highways and bridges of this country needed repair, just like the sewage systems did.
But did anyone do anything about it? No. It was just another study that was put on the shelf to collect dust. Almost 10 years later, we are back to the same topic about sharing gas taxes. A year ago when the price of gas was way up, I think the federal government ended up with $10 billion to $12 billion of gas tax revenue. What did the government do with it? It kept pretty well all of it. The government did not spend very much of it on infrastructure. The Liberals more or less threw it in a pot and did whatever Liberals do with a big pot of money.
All these things that I have talked about this afternoon are not new. I have been at this for seven years in the House and the same topics keep coming up. We hear the same rhetoric from the Liberals, especially just before an election, and this will be my third election. So what does it mean? It does not mean anything. It just means another budget and more rhetoric, a pre-election budget, and I am sure that Canadians are smart enough to understand that this is exactly what it is. I am sure that Canadians will vote and that they will expect whoever replaces the Liberals to be a lot more accountable.
