The Budget  They are wondering what is in it for them. Why is there absolutely no tax relief in the budget for ordinary middle class Canadians?

Budget Surpluses  Mr. Speaker, middle class Canadians are the ones who benefit when employment insurance contributions are reduced. Middle class Canadians are the ones who benefit when parental leave is extended. Middle class Canadians are the ones who benefit when transfer payments for health or the national child benefit are increased.

Summit Of The Americas  We ought to occasionally reflect on the fact that today an average Canadian middle class family enjoys a standard of living that is virtually inconceivable for most of the world's population, most of the population of the western hemisphere and certainly most of the people who have ever lived throughout history. Middle class Canadians, people of relatively modest means, enjoy goods and services, comforts and security, life expectancy and health, a level of education, disposable income and political freedom which is in the long context of human history almost unparalleled.

Sales Tax And Excise Tax Amendments Act, 1999  Madam Speaker, before I was interrupted by the member from the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party, I was saying that that particular party wanted to make the tax system even more regressive, more unfair and even more of a burden for ordinary middle class Canadians. That is the policy of the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party. That is what it stands for. I submit that is why 100 people showed up a few days ago in the Muskokas at $5,000 a head to eat caviar and sip champagne with Tom Long, one of the candidates for the leadership of that party.

Sales Tax And Excise Tax Amendments Act, 1999  The silence is really deafening when we do not hear them complain about the GST, when we do not hear them calling for the elimination of the GST and when we do not hear them asking to roll back the GST. The GST is a very regressive tax that hits ordinary Canadians and middle class Canadians the hardest. It is a bad tax for business. It is a bad tax for farmers. It becomes a paper burden. Of course, that is something which Canadian Alliance members do not complain about whatsoever.

Speech From The Throne  To put it very directly, it is proposing pension reform that is going to overwhelmingly affect middle class Canadians. Middle class Canadians are going to get whacked by the government. They are going to be affected. The people who saved for their retirements are now going to find out that these Liberal members are going to take that away from them.

Income Tax Amendments Act, 1999  The preferred choice is solution 17 of the Canadian Alliance. Our proposal will dramatically lower taxes for all Canadians and ensure that middle class Canadians whom this government is targeting end up with more real disposable income in their pockets and not just a headline and a speech which does them nothing. The finance minister said in his 1995 budget speech that subsidies to business impede growth.

The Budget  We do have a different approach on how to solve the problems. He is absolutely right that it is the middle class Canadian taxpayer that is taking the heavy burden of paying taxes and giving money to the government for frivolous spending. I agree with him on that point. I have some statistics. Britain recently reduced to 10% the maximum rate for low income taxpayers.

The Budget  Today the economic situation of the country has changed dramatically. It is because of the sacrifices made by middle class Canadians that the government is now able to give back to its citizens through tax cuts, indexation, investments in social programs, research and development and support for small and medium size business.

The Budget  I will say a little more about that later on when I explain solution 17, the Reform Party's proposal to dramatically lower taxes for all Canadians and to ensure that middle class Canadians, whom this government is targeting, end up with real disposable income in their pockets and not just a headline which does nothing for them. I want to touch on something which I mentioned at the outset of my remarks.

Income Tax Budget Amendments Act, 1996  It will be the poor and the working people who will pay the price for deficit reductions, as we have seen under both the Liberal and Tory governments. It will be the poor and ordinary working middle class Canadians who will pay the price. The struggle will go on and in the coming election we will make certain this becomes a major issue.

Committees Of The House  Second, we want to reduce the middle tax rate by three percentage points to 23%. This is in large part because hard-working, middle class Canadians worked so hard to defeat the deficit and give the Canadian government a surplus that they need to be rewarded. Mr. Speaker, I will not cite the entire passage because you are signalling me to stop.

Health  Speaker, Premier Klein recognizes that the Canada Health Act system is failing Canadians, particularly poor and middle class Canadians. Now the Premier of Ontario has written to the Prime Minister saying “Provincial governments have not cut health care funding; the federal government has”. My question is for the health minister.

Budget Surpluses  Will the Minister of Finance admit that, by using the surplus in the employment insurance fund to fund new government programs, he is making middle class Canadians and the unemployed foot the bill for the bulk of these new expenditures?

Budget Surpluses  Mr. Speaker, it is also middle class Canadians who make up 27% of the population but carry 50% of the tax burden. Instead of announcing new expenditures in areas that fall under the jurisdiction of others, ought the Minister of Finance not to announce some tax exemption measures that target the middle income taxpayer specifically?