Mr. Speaker, I am speaking today on behalf of the New Democratic Party. As many members of the House are well aware, the New Democrats have been unequivocal in opposing the bill. There are many elements to the bill that simply do not address the very pressing needs of Canadians in this day and age.
Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet increasingly we see problems with the poverty gap, the huge gap between those who have and those who do not. A recent United Nations report talks about the disparity around any number of issues, including housing, access to legal aid, and so on.
One of the things I specifically would like to address today is the fact that aboriginal and first nations people in this country have not seen their needs met in this most recent budget. In a letter dated May 4, 2006 that was sent to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, the First Nations Summit and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs laid out a number of issues that they felt the budget failed to address. There are a couple of things that I want to quote from the letter, because it is very important that this information be on record. The letter said:
--the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development made many public commitments to “put wheels on the Kelowna Accord,” and yet, your government has chosen not to uphold the honour of the Crown. Your government has reneged on this historic multi-government agreement, and has proceeded to unilaterally implement its own plan to address our issues without any consultations with us.
The letter goes on to talk about the budget:
Your government has abandoned this Accord and your budget reflects only a fraction of the financial commitments already committed by the Government of Canada to help improve the quality of life for First Nations and Aboriginal Canadians.
Your government has committed to addressing the fiscal imbalance with provinces, yet this budget does nothing to address the fiscal imbalance faced by First Nations governments. Spending on First Nations programs has been capped at 2% for the past ten years, and is far outpaced by rapid population growth and rising costs.
There were some token amounts in the budget that dealt with some of the issues in first nations and aboriginal communities. Yet it was far, far short of the desperate needs that have been identified in report after report that have come before the House in any number of formats.
It goes back to far before the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples which clearly called on the government of the day, which was then the Liberals, to implement a meaningful action plan that actually resulted in some differences in people's lives.
Now there is a Conservative government that is following on the Liberals' heels by failing to recognize that there are some critical issues that must be addressed in first nations, Inuit and Métis communities, as well as dealing with the off reserve and urban aboriginal issues.
The letter talks about the 2% gap. Since 1996, funding from Indian Affairs and Northern Development has been capped at 2%, yet population growth in first nations communities has far outstripped that 2% cap.
In a recent Auditor General's report, the Auditor General talks about the fact that in reviewing the first nations programming, she saw first nations funding increasing at 1.6%, yet population on reserve is growing at a rate of 11.2%. One does not need to be a mathematician to recognize there is a significant gap in the funding for services versus the population growth.
Mr. Speaker, I failed to mentioned that I will be splitting my time with the member for Vancouver Island North.
In that report, the Auditor General was very critical on a number of fronts, including housing. The Auditor General spoke about the fact that housing is in crisis on reserve. The mouldy housing is of crisis proportion in this country.
The member for Timmins—James Bay has talked about the fact that Kashechewan has been facing problem after problem. In Garden Hill there is an outbreak of tuberculosis and it is partially due to the housing conditions on reserve.
In my own community of Nanaimo—Cowichan we have one of the largest first nations populations on reserve in the province of British Columbia and there are significant housing problems in terms of the mould.
The Auditor General has talked about the failure of the government, and in that case it was the Liberal government's track record, but the failure of the government to adequately address this. It is a matter of shoddy housing construction. It is a matter of overcrowding. It is a matter of an ineffective approach in dealing with this critical issue.
As well, the budget failed to deal with on reserve housing and the crisis around housing. It also failed to deal with some of the very critical health issues on reserve. We are talking about tuberculosis. We are talking about diabetes. There was no mention in the budget for first nations health.
These are concrete, valid reasons to vote against the budget. I am only focusing on first nations. There are many other issues that I cannot begin to touch on in the very short time that is available for me.
In conclusion, it is important that Canadians understand that the NDP did not support this budget, that the budget falls far short of the honour of the Crown to deal with the issues before it in terms of its responsibility toward first nations communities and aboriginal communities in this country. I would urge people to continue to work together to make sure that these matters are addressed.