Preston Manning

[Pensions Of Members, February 24th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the government's weak-kneed attempt at MP pension reform is a slap in the face to every taxpayer in the country.

Despite the government's rhetoric this is still a gold plated pension plan for senior politicians. For example, under the old plan the Deputy Prime Minister would receive a base pension of $48,300 a year and collect $3.3 million by age 75 if she retired in 1997. Under the new plan the Deputy Prime Minister will receive a base pension of $48,300 and still receive $2.7 million by age 75 if she retired in 1997.

I have a question for the President of the Treasury Board. How can the government ask taxpayers to tighten their belts in the budget on Monday night when senior ministers continue to feast at the MP pension trough?

[The Budget, February 22nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the government has a red book that is symbolic of the red ink that flows from its policies.

Last fall the finance minister presented a grey book which is symbolic of these grey compromises between spending cuts and tax increases. Now it is abundantly clear that the government lacks what it takes to balance a budget, just like Mulroney and Wilson in 1984.

Will the Prime Minister confirm that the colour scheme for the budget that his minister will deliver next Monday will be pale yellow?

[The Budget, February 22nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister avoids the hard question of how the government is going to live paying $50 billion a year in interest. At the end of the day under the federal Liberal plan, the deficit will still be $25 billion a year, the debt will be over $600 billion and the government will have even less money than it has today to fund social programs.

Why does the government not screw up its courage and simply tell Canadians that the real threat to social programs is its inability to control the deficit and the debt?

[The Budget, February 22nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance attacked Reform's plan to balance the budget in three years.

The minister made unfounded comments about its impacts in a futile attempt to divert public attention away from the shortcomings of his own budget targets. Under the Liberal fiscal plan, over $100 billion will be added to the federal debt. Interest payments will amount to about one-third of the federal budget by the end of this Parliament.

Will the Prime Minister explain to seniors and to other Canadians what paying $50 billion a year in interest will do to the social programs on which they depend?

[Tribute To Hon. Lucien Bouchard, February 22nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all Reform members, including myself, I wish to welcome back the hon. member for Lac-Saint-Jean.

We parliamentarians are all professional politicians. Although, in the course of our public lives, we often express heartfelt and varied opinions on matters of public policy, we remain human beings united by our shared love of life and health and by our vulnerability to disease and tragedy.

When the hon. member became ill, all members of this House shared a feeling of solidarity because of their common concern for their colleague.

Those of us who believe that the ultimate secret of life and death rests in the hands of the Supreme Being prayed for his recovery.

When we learned that the hon. member was out of danger at last, we shared feelings of relief and gratitude.

It is a tribute to the hon. member's courage and determination that all members of the House put their differences aside and showed their solidarity through their concern for his recovery and well-being.

I therefore would like to express these feelings today by welcoming the hon. member back to the House and wishing him excellent health in the future.

[The Budget, February 21st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, my final supplementary question is for the Prime Minister.

Since the government's last budget, the Canadian bank rate has gone up by 4 per cent. It went up again today. The Canadian dollar has fallen by three cents. Canada is in danger of losing its AAA credit rating and its social services network is unravelling. These are just four of the consequences of the government's fiscal policy.

Does the Prime Minister accept any personal responsibility for these consequences? Does he want to go down as the Prime Minister that drove the debt through he ceiling and the dollar through the floor or will he order a mid-course correction in the government's fiscal policy?

[The Budget, February 21st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the reply but we were asking about revising the government's deficit reduction target. The minister has repeatedly mentioned rolling two year targets for the deficit. We ask, is the minister listening to the money markets?

I quote Avery Shenfeld, senior economist at Wood Gundy, that a two-year target at the top of the business cycle is not going to satisfy creditors. The Bank of Nova Scotia vice-president stated that making non-ambitious two-year targets is really not what is needed. Moving toward a balanced budget is what investors want to see.

Given the fact that our creditors, the people that are putting up $40 billion to cover the overdrafts, have no faith in the government's fiscal plan, will the minister abandon the idea of rolling two-year deficit targets and set a firm date for deficit elimination?

[The Budget, February 21st, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, today the Reform Party outlined a taxpayers' budget that would eliminate the deficit in three years through spending cuts alone.

We did so because many Canadians believe, and the international money markets agree, that the Liberal government's deficit reduction target is too weak and that the government is squandering its one opportunity to get federal spending under control.

Will the Minister of Finance, even at this late date, even if it means putting an addendum into his budget, revise the upcoming federal budget to set a firm target date for the elimination of the deficit rather than just its reduction?

[Finance, February 16th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, to congratulate the minister on hitting that target would be like congratulating a high jumper for getting over the bar when it is at three feet.

We are wondering whether the minister and the government ever learn anything from the experiences of others. The government and this minister are going down exactly the same fiscal path as the NDP Government of Ontario. First it denies the situation is serious, then a half-hearted attempt at tax increases to deal with it, then in the final analysis come to cut spending after it is too late.

Is it really the minister's ambition to become known as the Bob Rae of federal politics?

[Finance, February 16th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the minister and the members opposite just do not get it. When one of the world's largest bond rating agencies will not wait two weeks to get the minister's budget, it is telling him that his targets are not only unbelievable, they are unacceptable to the money markets. That is the message they are trying to send to the minister.

Will the minister simply accept the fact that his deficit reduction targets are inadequate and commit to eliminating the deficit within the life of this Parliament, which is what the money markets are asking?