NEWS RELEASE  

March 7, 1996                                                                                                               For Immediate Release  

THE LIBERALS KEEP DIGGING US IN DEEPER - LET'S TAKE AWAY THEIR SHOVEL  

"The government is like a huge ship without a rudder. There is no control or direction."  

Yorkton - Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, declared the Liberal's third attempt at getting government spending under control a failure. "The Liberal's 'Don't Worry - Be Happy' Budget is deceptive because it says things are okay when we all know the government just keeps going deeper in debt. If you had a Visa or a Mastercard that charged 33 percent interest, you'd scream bloody murder. Why do we accept it in government?" asked Breitkreuz. "One-third of every dollar collected goes to finance the national debt and we keep digging ourselves in deeper."  

The National Debt will increase from $576 billion this year to $656 billion by the turn of the century. Over the same five year period annual interest charges on this debt will increase from $45.2 billion in 1995/96 to $51.3 billion a year in 1999/2000. "We can't spend more than we take in at home and neither can the federal government. The Liberals are spending over $90 million a day more than they collect in revenues." When will the madness end?"  

"If the Liberals had adopted Reform's balanced budget approach put forward in our Taxpayers' Budget last year, Canadians could have looked forward to a budget surplus next year (1997/98) and by fiscal year 1999/2000 the savings on interest charges alone would have given the government a $4.7 billion surplus which could have been used to lower taxes or spend more on social programs, depending on what the people wanted," said Breitkreuz. "The Liberals have postponed the inevitable and Canadians are still waiting to hear when the budget will be balanced."  

Breitkreuz continued, "The Liberals are cutting spending on social programs and transfers to the provinces whereas Reform's approach would have seen an exchange of cash transfers to the provinces for tax points and the provinces would actually have had more money for health and education spending, not less. Reform laid out the solution for them and they ignored good old common sense for the sake of making political points. The Liberals would rather tell the provinces what to do than get out of their areas of constitutional jurisdiction."  

The Liberals didn't say anything about how they were going to straighten out the mess they have created in agriculture - especially with the removal of the Crow rate. Now, they're going to sell the grain hopper cars, with no plan, just like they abolished the Crow. If the Liberals had adopted Reform's proposals for agricultural reform, subsidies would have been reduced by only 20%, not 100%. Who are the Liberals to accuse Reform of slashing and burning?" asked Breitkreuz. 

On May 2, 1993 Jean Chretien said this about the GST, "We hate it and we will kill it." On October 18, 1993 Sheila Copps said, "If the GST is not abolished under a Liberal government, I will resign." On April 4, 1990 Paul Martin said, "I would abolish the GST." Breitkreuz responded, "The Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have had three budgets to 'Kill it', 'Abolish it' or 'Resign', but have chosen to do 'None of the above'." 

The biggest job destroyer in Canada is taxes. Every dollar spent on taxes can't be spent on goods and services that produce real jobs. If the Liberals really want to create jobs, all they have to do is return the Unemployment Insurance program to true insurance principles and lower payroll taxes. Back in the spring of 1994, then Human Resources Development Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, claimed his 2 percent reduction in UI premiums ($0.07 cents per $100 in insurable earnings) would create 40,000 jobs," reported Breitkreuz. "If that's true, and I believe that it is, then a 28 percent reduction in UI premiums (about $0.87 cents per $100) would create almost half a million jobs. Now, that's a real job creation program. A tax reduction program creates real, long-term jobs - government make-work projects do not."  

"Liberal sacred cows are still wandering freely in Canada eating up money that should be spent on health care, education and pensions. Liberals have the wrong priorities. The sacred cows that need to be butchered are the grants, handouts and tax concessions to corporations, special interest groups, multiculturalism, and official bilingualism. Reform's 'Waste Report' identified about $10 billion a year being wasted on grants and handouts, so the Liberals can play slush-fund politics. My constituents are sending me copies of 'The People's Tax Form' demanding that the Liberal government quit playing politics with their money, and put their tax dollars where they are needed most." 

MORE BUDGET FACTS  

• Social program transfers to Saskatchewan cut by 40% over next five years. 
• Increases in the federal government debt each day - $91.9 million 
• Quebec per capita transfers remain highest in Canada 
• Spending on MPs pensions remains unchanged 
• Spending on Indian Affairs to grow by 12.7% in next 3 years - all other departments declining 
• Program spending down by $9 billion but interest on the debt is up $9.8 billion 
• Gun control implementation $13.9 million 
• Federal Court Judges salaries up by $16.7 million 
• Total government spending $156.8 billion 

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For more information please call: 

Yorkton: (306) 782-3309 

Ottawa: (613) 992-4394