Mrs. Barbara Sparrow (Calgary South):

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in this debate in support of Bill C-ll. I would first like to commend the Minister for introducing this Bill which will enable us to borrow the most necessary funds to keep the country going. The Government must borrow to meet its financial requirements. We have produced the facts that are necessary for speedy consideration of this Bill.

In his economic statement the Minister of Finance (Mr. Wilson) advised Canadians that adjustments, cuts and new initiatives were needed to support and encourage economic recovery, to create jobs, and to give Canadians the confidence and stability to invest in this great country in order that it will move forward. The Government promised to take control and it is doing just that. The economic situation which we inherited after years of Liberal mismanagement calls for some tough specific actions, but they will be sound. Running the country is exactly like running any business. We all know that when expenses are greater than revenues a deficit is created. The Government was elected to deal with the challenges facing the country and the deficit is one of our greatest challenges.

Canadians have given the Government a strong mandate to embark on the long, complex and painful task of building a lasting economic consensus for our nation. I believe Canadians know that the Government is approaching, and will continue to approach, Canada's problems. Paying the bills is one of our problems. The Government is moving with compassion, commitment and fairness.

To put our own fiscal house in order and to reverse the massive buildup of public debt, we must and will meet our commitments. Many of these commitments were made by the previous government. We are going to honour our commitments. We are honest, sincere and open. The people of Canada want, and shall receive, fair treatment, Mr. Speaker. They voted for a Government that will get the country back on its feet. Through extensive consultation and communication with the provinces, business people, labour and all Canadians, the Government will make fair decisions for all regions of Canada. We will no longer see confrontation and unilateral decisions, for the Government has a responsibility. It is facing reality. We can no longer meet every need. We simply cannot do it all.

My home is Calgary, Mr. Speaker. Calgary was absolutely brought to its knees by the financial mismanagement of this country and the destruction of the oil and gas industry in 1980. The Liberal National Energy Program was a disaster. The previous Government singled out a number one industry and then raped it. Half of the drilling rigs in western Canada have been idled or they have left the country. People left for a more secure and favourable climate. Those who were left behind went belly-up. The only way to make a buck in the drilling industry is to keep that iron turning.

I invite Hon. Members here today to come out west to the producing provinces. Come out and see the rigs. Come on the floor. See the pipe which is made from the steel from Ontario and the wire cable that is made in Mississauga and the Arctic clothing that comes from Quebec. The survival suits in the Beaufort are made in Vancouver.

As one can see, when the resource industry was so hard halted thousands of jobs were lost all across Canada. The previous Government's energy policy is directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of lost jobs, billions of investment dollars leaving this country and four wasted years in achieving self-sufficiency for Canada.

A PGRT was applied to gross revenues. That is a petroleum and gas revenue tax, where there were no deductions for spending on new exploration and development and no deductions for royalties paid to the provinces. The previous government then revised the corporate income tax. The old earned depletion deduction was eliminated. It then imposed a natural gas and gas liquids tax. It went on and on. In its greed, the Liberal Government heavily taxed this industry. It based its theory on high world oil prices and increased consumption. However, someone forgot to tell that government that one does not budget on anticipation but on hard facts and figures.

We in the oil and gas business need a tremendous lead time to produce. We need 8 to 12 years for geological surveys, for land acquisition and exploration. We need this in order to get development and production. This industry has to find its raw materials first before it can manufacture the product. These

November 29, 1984

Borrowing Authority

are unique circumstances. The up-front capital is high risk and should be treated as a high-risk investment.

I correspond with some 250 members of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and small businessmen in my riding on a regular basis. They are desperate to keep their businesses going, let alone expand their capabilities. This means jobs and we cannot foster tomorrow's increased employment until we meet yesterday's obligations.

This is what Bill C-ll is all about. If my hon. friend, the Member for Hamilton East (Ms. Copps), was in the House today, I would ask her to turn back a few pages in history to see what her government did to strangle the resource industry. When that industry turned down, we quit making hole and when we quit making hole we did not need pipe. If we did not need pipe, then we did not need steel from Hamilton. We did not need draw works and we did not need wire cable. In fact, we did not need anything. The unemployment in her riding is directly related to her government.

This Government is committed to giving Canadians a well managed, efficient and productive Government. We promised a major overhaul of planning and budgetary controls and we will produce. There are no easy solutions. Our mandate is huge but we will keep our promises. I want to tell my hon. friends how proud I am to be a member of the House and to have this opportunity to speak in support of Bill C-l 1 today.

Mr. Deputy Speaker:

Questions and comments?

Mr. Boudria:

Mr. Speaker, in concluding her remarks, the Hon. Member talked about the promise. Of course, we know that the Government's promise to which she referred was to create tens upon tens of thousands of new jobs in this country as soon as the new Government could be sworn into office.

I am sure that the Hon. Member and the Prime Minister (Mr. Mulroney) recall this statement being made. Could she tell us of the Government's progress in keeping this promise? Specifically, how many tens of thousands of jobs have been cut since the Government came to office, rather than created, as it promised?

MS)

Mrs. Sparrow:

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's comments. When we came into office we had no idea what we were facing. The Liberals had 16 years to create this mess and we are going to do our very best to pick up the pieces very slowly and put them in place. We are going to get Canada off its knees and on to its feet and then we are going to run. We are going to give the people of Canada an opportunity to take hold of our resources, be they natural or human resources. We are going to give this country an opportunity to be what it should be.

Mr. Boudria:

Mr. Speaker, I have a further comment. The Hon. Member has just told us that her Government did not know what it was doing when it was sworn into office and did not know what was going on. It just did not know where to start doing its job, nor did it know what the books looked like.

It seems that the Tories are the only people who did not know what was going on. We certainly knew-

Oh, oh!

Hear, hear!

Mr. Boudria:

Did I hit a tender nerve on the other side, Mr. Speaker? As I was just about to say before I was so rudely interrupted, we certainly knew that we could not make billions of dollars of promises, but we did not make promises with which we could not live. We chose to promise only those things on which we could deliver.

Mr. Stewart:

That is why you have 40 seats over there.

Mr. Boudria:

That may be why we got 40 seats, but we still have our honour.

Oh, oh!

Mr. Boudria:

At least when we get back into power we will be able to deliver on those things we promised. We will not disappoint the people of this country, such as this Government has done since it has assumed office. They are right, Mr. Speaker, they did not know what was going on. They still do not know what is going on. They promised tens upon tens of thousands of jobs.

In this book that I have in my hand entitled "Expenditure Review", the Government has cut thousands of jobs from my riding right here in the Ottawa area as well as in the ridings of several Hon. Members. I see the Hon. Member for Gatineau (Mrs. Mailly). Maybe she could stand up and comment on the thousands of jobs cut in her constituency. None has been created but thousands have been cut. That is the disappointing record of this Government so far. We had enough of a similar government not long ago after nine months. We have had enough of this one after two months.

Mrs. Sparrow:

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague-

Mr. Boudria:

You can't ask. I ask.

Mrs. Sparrow:

Let me make a suggestion to my colleague, Mr. Speaker. Did the Hon. Member know he was giving us a $34 billion deficit?

Is that one of the promises?

Mrs. Sparrow:

It started at $29 billion. I believe it was the finance minister in the previous government who made a miscalculation of maybe $5 billion.

I would like to tell the Hon. Member that we have been given a tremendous mandate. We have been handed a problem. We are very unhappy with our problem but we are going to work slowly and surely and we will get tens of thousands of people back to work. Already the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources (Miss Carney) is working very closely with the provinces and with the industry on a new national energy

November 29, 1984

program. We will develop that. We are working in the agricultural area. Yes, Mr. Speaker, people will see in the next four years that we will stand by our promises and we will meet them.