Supply  Free trade.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for sharing his thoughts today and for the gastro-colonic reflexes from members opposite. It has been sad for some of us to watch the party of prairie populism emerge and evolve into the party of prairie poll mongering. Our party believes as strongly as the Reform Party in the free market.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, when I hear the undying optimism on the opposite side of the House, I sometimes wonder. I heard one hon. member say earlier that some people in this House talk the talk, but the Liberal government walks the walk. Perhaps we should remind ourselves who is walking the walk.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I agree with the hon. member that government spending is not the answer to the problems of Canada. That is why I am concerned about the big government spending programs like the millennium scholarship fund. That is why the Conservative government reduced government program spending growth from over 15% per year to around 0% growth by the time our government was defeated in 1993.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has a penchant for quoting publications. It is a penchant I share as well. One of the publications I enjoy is the Economist . For $172 a year he could be similarly well informed. And that is in Canadian dollars by the way, which makes it even better value now that the dollar has been so weak.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, the whole issue of investment in research and development is extremely important. We are the only country in the G-7 countries that has actually reduced its commitment over the past several years. I take the hon. member's suggestion very seriously. We as a party are extremely supportive of an increased commitment to research and development, especially medical research and development.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, perhaps if we looked back at history we would see that Pierre Trudeau inherited no debt. It was the Liberal government's interventionist, anti-Canadian policies which led to the significant debt that we inherited in 1984.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member has so many good reasons why Canadians should stay in Canada, he should be speaking to all the Canadians who are leaving Canada. He obviously knows something that ordinary Canadians do not. Canadians are making decisions and voting with their feet.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's comments. He really should not be smiling at all because the Conservative government eliminated the manufacturers' sales tax and replaced it with a consumption tax, the GST, which made more sense in a global environment and his party committed to ripping it up.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, good government means looking ahead. Good government means recognizing trends, especially in a global environment. The PC government recognized the global trends and brought this country free trade, the deregulation of financial services, transportation and energy, which enabled Canadians to compete nationally and internationally.

Point Of Order  Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. We support this point of order. We feel this process requires transparency, not just for the opposition but for the government and the minister. One of the Liberal promises was that the ethics counsellor would be reporting to parliament as opposed to simply the prime minister.

Bill C-28  Mr. Speaker, it is with great regret, but important to remember, what the ethics commissioner said yesterday. We cannot ignore his testimony. He stated that he was called in to investigate the apparent conflict of interest between the finance minister who did sponsor Bill C-28. He also said that he contacted CSL executives to determine the impact on CSL.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister should be put in the penalty box for joking about his salary when Canadians have had a 6% drop in disposable income and a 15% increase in income tax over the past several years. Our most talented Canadians are leaving Canada to work elsewhere. Is the Prime Minister's policy of continued high income taxes and a weak Canadian dollar part of his plan to reduce the pay gap between himself and the NHL players?

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance needs to be briefed a little better. Between 1989 and 1993 the Conservative government reduced income taxes as a per cent of GDP by 1%. Since 1993 this minister has increased income taxes as a per cent of GDP. The Globe and Mail on Saturday reported that the heavy tax burden combined with overall income taxes in Canada is putting in motion a brain drain that is taking our most productive workers.

Russell Maclellan  Mr. Speaker, after being savaged by four painful years of Liberal government in Nova Scotia, the Grits needed someone to turn their provincial fortunes around. They found their Mr. Fixit in Ottawa in Russell MacLellan. As an MP, Russell voted to decrease cash transfers to Nova Scotia from $638 million in 1994 down to $411 million by the year 2003.