They probably had to have an inquiry. They probably had to run some polls and say, “How are we doing so far?”. They had advertising to suggest to Canadians what a great benefit this program would be. It simply has not achieved its end. The costs continue to rise. Two billion dollars on a worthless gun registry and the costs continue to climb. It is taxpayer dollars, our money.
The Quebec referendum shocked the nation. The Liberals responded by throwing money at it, again, without a real plan. The result was the sponsorship scandal, a $250 million waste of money, $100 million illegally funnelled to Liberal friends and the Liberal Party. Even worse, it has reinvigorated Quebec separatism. Again, they have thrown out money without a plan. They are throwing out tax dollars, taxing too much, running surpluses and spending our money.
Imagine if some of that money was left in pockets of Canadians in the form of lower taxes? While the Canadian government spending goes up, according to Statistics Canada, families saw their aftertax income stall in 2002 and fall in 2003. As the Liberal government spends more, we have less.
This arrogance of Liberal conviction, that the Liberals can spend the money of Canadians more wisely than they, has to stop. We have to hold them accountable. We have to say, “Where is this money going?” This is a classic example of making up legislation, governing on the run, staying ahead of it, clinging to power and trying to get in.
We now have an additional budget of $4.6 billion proposed to the House of Commons simply to buy Liberal votes, to cling to power and to remain in office.
