Budget Implementation Act, 2004, No. 2  It is a phantom tax that the government is proposing to collect of hundreds of thousands of dollars from hard- working Canadians who have never earned a dime of that money. The irony is that I brought this matter to the attention of the current Prime Minister when he was the minister of finance. That will be four years ago this February.

Supply  While the Liberals have been throwing billions of dollars at unaccountable foundations, they continue to delay tax relief on hard-working Canadians, hard-working Canadians like the local farmers of my riding of Simcoe--Grey who continue to battle with the Canadian agriculture income stabilization program, the CAIS program, a program that has been universally rejected by producers across the country as a policy that unfairly hurts farmers.

Finance committee  Is it just the fact that our systems aren't keeping pace? Or is there something else? And how do hard-working Canadians who are struggling day to day feel good about the fact that they're obeying the law when they hear about others who aren't? I don't know if there's an answer to that question, but it is a concern.

Business of Supply  When one wastes scarce resources, one cannot do the necessary things one wants to do for planning. If the government is not prudent with the tax dollars which it is given by hard-working Canadians, then it will not be able to do anything, such as fund research institutions. The government argues that the private sector will magically pick up the slack. If that is true, then why was Canada dead last under the previous Conservative government and through the hard work of the Liberal government we became number one in the G-7 in research and development?

Equalization  Last week the Prime Minister invited provinces to occupy the tax room that he had vacated by cutting the GST. In plain language, he is inviting provinces to raise the sales tax paid by hard-working Canadians, totally cancelling out the effect of his GST cut. Why did he not come clean during the election and say that his solution to the fiscal imbalance involved provinces raising sales tax to replace the GST cut?

Business of Supply  There are many different factors that affect gas prices. Our government is concerned about higher gas prices. We know that hard-working Canadian taxpayers who are trying to raise their families are being challenged by these prices. The retail price of gasoline reflects the record cost of crude oil on the global markets.

Business of Supply  Speaker, I applaud the Bloc member for the motion today and for acknowledging the hard-working Canadians who are penalized by inflated gas prices, particularly those in rural areas who do not have the alternative of public transit, for example, and low income Canadians who simply cannot absorb the increased costs.

Business of Supply  Is the natural resources minister at all prepared to acknowledge that there is such a thing as excess profits that are penalizing hard-working Canadian families who either do not have public transit alternatives or are forced to use cars because of the nature of their work? The excess profits that result in higher gas prices than can be warranted are penalizing the trucking industry.

Finance committee  All we're doing is changing the personal amount back to where it was before, so that we don't add low-income Canadians to the tax rolls. If they show no compassion to hard-working Canadians, in terms of insisting on raising the rates, maybe they could at least refrain from cutting the basic personal amount, which adds 200,000 low-income Canadians to the tax rolls.

Finance committee  McCallum, and therefore we're going to do what's right on this side of the table and give those hard-working Canadians the decrease they deserve. Get used to it.

House debate  Speaker, this is a government that keeps its promises. We have kept our promise to give hard-working Canadians a break and cut the GST by 1%. We have kept our promise to give families a choice in child care. We have kept our promise to introduce legislation to crack down on crime and make our communities safer.

Employment Insurance Act  Unfortunately, the EI plan is supposed to be insurance. What ended up happening was the government overtaxed hard-working Canadians. This bill will rectify that and give more money back to hard-working Canadians. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Budget Implementation Act, 2006  They chose instead to once again follow the Liberal path of investing in areas that help big business and the wealthiest in this country. They chose to neglect hard-working Canadians who spend day and night sustaining themselves and their families, contributing to their communities, volunteering at hockey rinks and church bazaars, walking on safety patrols and helping people in need.

Budget Implementation Act, 2006  We have to look at all the ways that the government is putting money back in the hands of hard-working Canadians. There is money for child care, the $1,200 a year. The member talks about how much that equates to per day et cetera. Let us look at how much money hundreds of thousands of families across this nation received under the previous Liberal government.

House debate  Although budget 2006 is entitled “Turning A New Leaf”, this shoddy document is turning the stomachs of hard-working Canadians. The Conservatives say that parents would receive $1,200 for children under the age of six, but they do not say that this benefit would be taxable. This makes no sense. Why promise parents a certain amount of money only to claw it back at tax time?