Income Tax Act  This sector contributes significantly to our gross domestic product and the large volume of exports contribute significantly to our balance of trade. This industry provides work to many hard working Canadians. However, for the reasons I mentioned, I hope the members here would support the position I outlined. To create this provision for forestry workers alone, to restrict it and not allow it for other workers in other sectors and to create a precedent with respect to the deductibility of travel expenses from home to the workplace would create an unnecessary and costly precedent.

Organized Crime  They exploit the freedoms that we cherish so much in this great country. They exploit our honest young people and the quality of life that honest hard-working Canadians work to achieve and maintain. The public must recognize that gangs and organized criminals victimize us all. We must collectively and individually refuse to provide any support to criminal gangs.

Employment Insurance  In fact the Prime Minister, who probably has not checked his pay stub for over 30 years, might not think that $350 is a lot of money, but that will buy a lot of groceries for hard working Canadian families. Why does the Prime Minister and the finance minister not simply do the right thing and give hard working Canadians their hard earned money back? Why not?

Budget Implementation Act, 2000  Sudbury is but one of a long list. What business is it of the government to take money from 21 hard-working Canadians, their full tax bills, to subsidize golf courses? How do the Liberals account for that type of spending? Is that the justification they use for $330 million more in the form of tax increases in 1996?

Budget Implementation Act, 2000  He said “Let me begin by reaffirming our goal. It is to reduce taxes. It is to leave more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians”. That was in the budget speech of February 24, 1998. By looking at these quotes, it proves that he talks the talk but does not walk the walk, and it has been proven in the last five years that I have mentioned.

Budget Implementation Act, 2000  Just imagine the benefits taxpayers could reap if that money was left in their own pockets. It is very insulting for hard-working Canadian families to pay such high levels of tax and then to see that type of waste. I represent a riding in Saskatchewan. Last Friday the Prime Minister appointed a person from Saskatchewan to the Senate because there was a Senate vacancy.

Budget Implementation Act, 2000  The billion dollar boondoggle in the human resources department, the misappropriation or misallocation of grant money, is a good illustration of irresponsible behaviour and skewed priorities where the Liberals refuse to fund social programs that Canadians care about, such as our health care system, in favour of handing money to their political friends. That is tax money, I might add, paid by hard working Canadian families. I would also like to address the amendment to the Excise Tax Act to allow the Minister of National Revenue to obtain judicial authorization to immediately assess and take action to collect from a person GST-HST deemed remittable by the minister.

Modernization Of Benefits And Obligations Act  The fact is that most of the statutes in the bill dealing with benefits relate to pensions. We believe that hard working Canadians should be able to provide for and indeed be encouraged to provide for their common law partners, whether opposite sex or same sex. The bill has been debated for a good long time.

Supply  Most Canadians sense the urgency in the truckers' message as they watched the steady stream of truckers protesting across the country. These hard working Canadians are desperately trying to raise public awareness to the serious problems facing their industry. I think most Canadians now understand the situation. Perhaps the only Canadians who were not moved by this public display are the members of the Liberal government who continue to turn a blind eye to their problems by refusing to provide them with any kind of tax relief.

Supply  Decisions as to where transitional jobs funds were allocated were based on a real need to help hard-working Canadians adjust to the new EI program. After all, hon. members will agree that the goal of government programs should be to help those who require help and to help Canadians help themselves.

The Budget  I do and I don't like it. How do we pick a winner from all these? There are no real winners, only hard working Canadians who lose out to a finance minister who promises tax relief and then delivers tax increases. It seems that no amount of income is too small to attract the attention of the finance minister.

Fuel Taxes  Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the people of Beauséjour—Petitcodiac who are irate at the high gas and fuel prices. It would seem that the federal government is once again turning its back on hard-working Canadians. Not only has the high fuel tax hurt the trucking industry, it has also hit low income families especially hard, many of whom cannot handle any extra heating costs. In 1995 the Liberal government raised gas taxes by 1.5 cents per litre as a means to lower the federal deficit.

Veterans Health Care  We hope there are going to be substantial reductions in taxation, not only for small businesses, but for hard working Canadians as well. We really hope that will be the case. We somehow doubt it, but we hope that will be the case. I am going to anticipate part of what the answer of my colleague will be: that we have low taxes, the minister has reduced taxes, everything is going fine, just wait until February 28 and we will see what kind of great things the government is going to do.

Shipbuilding Act, 1999  As I said at the beginning, given my present analysis I will be voting against the bill because of the very broad principle that I do not think the government should have the ability to take money out of the pockets of hard-working Canadians right across the country in order to prop up businesses that are not able to compete on an international basis because we have gone international now. It is not a valid use of the taxpayers' money.

Taxation  I want to ask the finance minister a very simple question. When is he going to give people like Jean, hard working Canadians, a tax break? When is he going to do that?