Thank you, Mr. Speaker. While I am pleased by the attempts on the part of the present government to live within an increasingly bleak revenue picture, I am very concerned that the lack of focus on how we implement our budget will bring far more pain than need to our population. Especially for the most vulnerable, those with little, or unemployment, or other options. Until we can improve our decision making system, waste may be the order of the day. The arbitrariness of cuts for some programs recently issued demonstrates this point. It seems to be some type of Ouija board government happening here, which takes more direction from touchy-feely current instincts.
At the root of this problem is the lack of on-going evaluation of programs, systematic evaluation providing us with comparisons of value for many more program wishes than we can completely fund.
Mr. Speaker, today I had a call from a single mother with two small children. The mother explained to me that she pays $580 every two weeks for day care. Mr. Speaker, this working mother takes home a net pay of $987 every two weeks. By the time she buys groceries and pays taxi fares, she has $30 left. She has to pay the power bill and her phone bill, et cetera. Mr. Speaker, the gross salary of this individual is $35,000 a year. She is a member of the working poor. I have tried to refer this lady to various departments for help, but, Mr. Speaker, she makes too much money. Can you believe that? She makes too much money. The mother said that by going on social assistance, she would be better off financially. We have to address this, Mr. Speaker. The point here is that yes, we have to balance the budget. Yes, we have to cut back. Yes, we have to reduce, but we also have to maintain the less fortunate in our society that Mr. Todd talked about the other day, which Mr. Miltenberger mentioned yesterday. If we do not do this, it will all have been for nothing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.