Budget Implementation Act, 2001  We are debating whether or not there should be an air security charge instead of getting on with returning to hard working Canadians the money that they have earned and are paying in high interest rates, high carrying costs or taxes. As I say, there is more than one way to skin that particular cat. I hear members opposite say that only Liberals can make this draconian budget, as they refer to it, sound good.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, it is good to have the opportunity to address this issue. The issue certainly has the attention of hard-working Canadians whose tax dollars go into the public purse and who sometimes have grave concerns over what happens with those tax dollars once they are collected. Most Canadians do not mind paying a reasonable amount of tax.

Governor General  Yet, as if by magic, the government has come up with extra money for the Governor General and her cronies to traipse across the northern hemisphere. This trip is unnecessary and insensitive to the needs of hard working Canadians. The elites will tell us that it is critical to spread Canadian culture. I think they are wrong. Ron and Linda, Mel and Myrna, and Debbie and Darren are a few of my constituents who have not had a vacation in years.

Supply  In 2001-02 alone this 1.5¢ per litre deficit fighting tax took $705 million out of the pockets of hard-working Canadians. The Canadian Alliance believes that taxes which are imposed for a specific purpose, like this deficit fighting tax, should be used for that purpose alone and removed when no longer required, as in this case.

Public Safety Act, 2002  The member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine commented on public opinion polls which said that Canadians in the aftermath of September 11 were prepared to forsake some of their privacy for additional security. I would say respectfully back to her that for a lot of hard-working Canadians that may in fact be a reality. However it is even more incumbent on those who Canadians elect to places and chambers, like the House of Commons, the legislators and parliamentarians, to ensure that our safety and security laws are there, but that they are there in balance to ensure guaranteed privacy when and where Canadians need it.

Employment Insurance  The government is collecting a whopping 33% more in premiums than what is necessary. Payroll taxes hurt hard-working Canadians and businesses, yet the Liberals only moved to cut premiums by a measly 2¢ in the last budget. Why are the Liberals continuously and intentionally ripping off Canadians?

Budget Implementation Act, 2003  In fact it is the middle to low income Canadians who need all the help and benefits that a strong federal government should provide for them. There was certainly more than enough surplus to finally reward these hard working Canadian families by lowering the GST and personal income taxes. Instead, the government has ignored the priorities of average Canadians and has created more slush funds for grand scale promises that inevitably will be mismanaged.

The Budget  This should have been the budget that propelled Canada to the forefront of the most innovative, the most productive nations on earth by substantially paying down our national debt, providing hard-working Canadians and businesses with some real tax relief and re-prioritizing spending from areas such as corporate welfare to health care. Instead, the finance minister has not only adopted the track of his predecessor with his massive growth in government spending, he has escalated the process.

The Budget  It fails because it spends too lavishly and banks on future economic success that is not guaranteed. It fails because it ignores hard-working Canadians, average Canadians who deserve real broad based tax breaks after all the years of Liberal tax hikes and half measures. The budget fails because it pays little more than lip service to reducing the burden on our public debt, on the economy and on our fiscal situation.

Canada Elections Act  We are, however, adamantly opposed to the enhanced public funding of political parties. In a democracy it is simply wrong to force hard-working Canadians or citizens to support certain political parties. Every voter in the country should have the right to choose which party they support. In closing, I would like to quote the Leader of the Opposition, who said that “the true nature of the bill is simply the replacement by the [Liberal] government of its addiction to large business and union donations with an addiction to taxpayer funding”.

Export Development Canada  How can the federal government lend billions of dollars to create jobs in foreign countries while hard-working Canadians are losing their jobs at the same time?

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  If one is from the big cities of Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver, there may be facets of the throne speech one can find pleasing, but the reality is that those most in need of the government, those producing the wealth in the country, hard-working Canadians, are those in rural, remote and northern Canada. They are all but forgotten in the member from Shawinigan's vision of Canada. It is what is lacking and who is forgotten in the throne speech that I take issue with.

Government Contracts  Forty million dollars may not matter to the Liberal government but it sure matters to hard working Canadians who have squeezed till they squeak to come up with the cash. My question for the minister of public works. How many millions of taxpayer dollars have to be wasted, lost, funnelled to loyal Liberals and so on before it shows up on his radar screen?

Supply  Only one person bears the brunt and the burden of the government's actions, good or bad, in terms of money: the hard-working Canadian who slogs, is overtaxed and often underpaid for the work he or she does. That is what is happening. It is a complete violation of the public trust. Is it intentional? That is up for debate.

Supply  However in Saturday's Financial Post the leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition said the government was only interested in Quebec based industries and had failed to protect hard-working Canadian families. Why would the Alliance Party attack another region by saying Quebecers were not hard workers? The opposition leader went on to say if it had been Bombardier and not hard-working families the government might have taken action.